A Bloomsbury Christmas: Hand Paint a Lampshade with Jane McCall
This December, you can join artist Jane McCall to paint your own cotton-silk lampshade. Bloomsbury Revisited is the creation of McCall and her PR business partner Jane Howard, who share a love for the pioneering twentieth century Bloomsbury Group. Its bohemian influence can be seen in the breadth of colour, pattern and painterly brushstrokes on each lampshade.
Dark Fig Lampshade by Jane McCall of Bloomsbury Revisited.
The first time Jane discovered the Bloomsbury Group was when a friend invited her to help on a documentary set at Charleston Farmhouse. She was immediately captivated by the frescos that covered every inch of the interior which McCall describes as “A lovely jumble. It’s balanced and it works”.
McCall was so inspired by their work that she began her own pottery studio in the mid-nineties. Then after having three children, she pursued a career in interiors to support her family. Twenty years on, a friend asked Jane if she could teach a workshop and if so, what would she do. She chose lampshades; an accessory which reunited McCall with her artistic side. Using water-based paints on cotton silk provided the perfect surface for McCall's designs, lending them the same painterly look which is so innate to the Bloomsbury style. This free-flowing form is what McCall connects with most. “They liked to let their designs evolve as they went rather than have a predetermined artwork in mind.”..
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Image Credits:
Lead: Jane McCall photographed for the FT by Lily Bertrand-Webb
All further images as credited in photo captions.