The starting point for the prints presented in this solo exhibition was a series of walks by Jason Hicklin between 2020-23 in London, Pembrokeshire and North Yorkshire. All are walks that border water.

The most recent walk (summer 2023) was that on the North Yorkshire coast, from the dramatic Bempton cliffs to the sandy beach at Filey. This walk resulted in seven completely new prints, including a beautiful quadriptych which will be on display for the first time here at Watermark Gallery.

The prints from The Thames are from two bodies of works; The River: Part One and Two. Both were based on walks from Hammersmith to North Greenwich.

The Pembrokeshire etchings were made in 2021 and are based on a walk on Ramsey Island, a boat trip to Skomer Ialdns and a costal walk from St David’s Head to Strumble Head.

All of Jason’s work starts outdoors with a sketchbook which then informs the etchings made back in the studio. Carrying the minimum of equipment, he will walk and climb the desired area for days and sometimes nights, often in extreme weather. He describes working outdoors in these tense and exciting conditions as a tremendously connecting experience – feeling a part of the land itself.

The result is a striking record of the elemental collisions between earth, sea and weather. Jason conveys the bleak essence of driving rain, when the mist closes down and masters the polarities of bright skies and shadowed rocks. His work is charged with an atmosphere born of an intimate knowledge of the landscape and a direct physical experience of its changing moods.

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