James Dodds (born 1957) is an East Anglian artist whose practice centers on

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...

linocut Linocut, also known as lino print, lino printing or linoleum art, is a printmaking technique, a variant of woodcut in which a sheet of linoleum (sometimes mounted on a wooden block) is used for a relief surface. A design is cut into the linoleum s ...

and

relief carving In wood carving relief carving is a type in which figures or patterns are carved in a flat panel of wood; the same term is also used for carving in stone, ivory carving and various other materials. The figures project only slightly from the bac ...

. Born in

Brightlingsea Brightlingsea is a coastal town and an electoral ward in the Tendring district of Essex, England. It is situated between Colchester and Clacton-on-Sea, at the mouth of the River Colne, on Brightlingsea Creek. At the 2011 Census, it had a pop ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and Grea ...

, he now lives and works in

Wivenhoe Wivenhoe ( ) is a town and civil parish in north-eastern Essex, England, approximately south-east of Colchester. Historically Wivenhoe village, on the banks of the River Colne, and Wivenhoe Cross, on the higher ground to the north, were two ...

producing prints and books as the Jardine Press. He is the son of East Anglian artist Andrew Dodds and has been described as "boatbuilding’s artist laureate". He is arguably East Anglia's most famous contemporary artist after Dame

Maggi Hambling Margaret ("Maggi") J. Hambling (born 23 October 1945) is a British artist. Though principally a painter her best-known public works are the sculptures '' A Conversation with Oscar Wilde'' and '' A Sculpture for Mary Wollstonecraft'' in London, ...

Education

James Dodds followed an apprenticeship as a shipwright in

Maldon, Essex Maldon (, locally ) is a town and civil parish on the Blackwater estuary in Essex, England. It is the seat of the Maldon District and starting point of the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation. It is known for Maldon Sea Salt which is produced ...

from 1972 to 1976. He studied at

Colchester Institute Colchester Institute is a large provider of further and higher education based in the city of Colchester. Colchester Institute provides full-time and part-time courses for a wide variety of learners including 16 to 19 year olds, apprentices, adu ...

from 1976 to 1977, the

Chelsea School of Art Chelsea College of Arts is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London based in London, United Kingdom, and is a leading British art and design institution with an international reputation. It offers further and higher educat ...

from 1977 to 1980 and the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It o ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

from 1981 to 1984.

Works

Dodds exhibits regularly at Bircham Contemporary Arts Gallery (

Holt, Norfolk Holt is a market town, civil parish and electoral ward in the English county of Norfolk. The town is north of the city of Norwich, west of Cromer and east of King's Lynn. The town has a population of 3,550, rising and including the ward to 3 ...

), Messum's Fine Art Gallery (

), Hayletts Gallery (

), North House Gallery (

Manningtree Manningtree is a town and civil parish in the Tendring district of Essex, England, which lies on the River Stour. It is part of the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Natural Beauty. Smallest town claim Manningtree has traditionally claimed to b ...

) and Dowling Walsh Gallery (Maine USA). His paintings and hand-made prints are inspired by boats and boat building, especially those craft peculiar to East Anglia. He had a major retrospective show, "Shipshape", at

Firstsite Firstsite is a visual arts organisation based in Colchester, Essex, which opened in 2011. It was the national Art Fund's Museum of the Year in 2021. The building Firstsite occupy as tenants was designed by Rafael Viñoly and the freehold is r ...

at The Minories, Colchester in November 2001. This show subsequently toured at

Whitstable Whitstable () is a town on the north coast of Kent adjoining the convergence of the Swale Estuary and the Greater Thames Estuary in southeastern England, north of Canterbury and west of Herne Bay. The 2011 Census reported a population of ...

Herne Bay Herne Bay is a seaside town on the north coast of Kent in South East England. It is north of Canterbury and east of Whitstable. It neighbours the ancient villages of Herne and Reculver and is part of the City of Canterbury local governmen ...

Frome Frome ( ) is a town and civil parish in eastern Somerset, England. The town is built on uneven high ground at the eastern end of the Mendip Hills, and centres on the River Frome. The town, about south of Bath, is the largest in the Mendip d ...

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a Counties of England, county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the List of islands of England#Largest islands, largest and List of islands of England#Mo ...

Barnard Castle Barnard Castle (, ) is a market town on the north bank of the River Tees, in County Durham, Northern England. The town is named after and built around a medieval castle ruin. The town's Bowes Museum's has an 18th-century Silver Swan automato ...

National Maritime Museum Cornwall The National Maritime Museum, Cornwall is located in a harbourside building at Falmouth in Cornwall, England. The building was designed by architect M. J. Long, following an architectural design competition managed by RIBA Competitions. The ...

National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the Unite ...

Greenwich Greenwich ( , ,) is a town in south-east London, England, within the ceremonial county of Greater London. It is situated east-southeast of Charing Cross. Greenwich is notable for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich ...

, Great Yarmouth and Hartlepool. Dodds's work returned to

with a new exhibition called "Wood to Water". A timelapse film of Dodds making a large painting for this show called Timepeace is on his website. On the 16 August 2016 Dodds received the John Nash medal from Colchester Art Society for his contribution to the arts. His work has been purchased by Britten-Pears Library,

Aldeburgh Aldeburgh ( ) is a coastal town in the county of Suffolk, England. Located to the north of the River Alde. Its estimated population was 2,276 in 2019. It was home to the composer Benjamin Britten and remains the centre of the international Alde ...

;

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

; Clacton & Rochford Hospitals;

Chelmsford Chelmsford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the City of Chelmsford district in the county of Essex, England. It is the county town of Essex and one of three cities in the county, along with Southend-on-Sea and Colchester. It ...

and

Museums;

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...

Borough Council, Museums and Galleries;

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colch ...

Borough Council;

Horniman Museum The Horniman Museum and Gardens is a museum in Forest Hill, London, England. Commissioned in 1898, it opened in 1901 and was designed by Charles Harrison Townsend in the Modern Style. It has displays of anthropology, natural history and musical ...

, London. National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, UCS East Contemporary Art Collection;

, MMoFA, Madison, Georgia, USA; Masterworks Museum of Bermuda Art; The Sainsbury Centre,

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

and many private collectors. He is better known for his dramatic linocuts of coastal towns, nautical myths and legends, as well as his large paintings of various boats. In July 2007 Dodds received an honorary doctorate from the

University of Essex The University of Essex is a public research university in Essex, England. Established by royal charter in 1965, Essex is one of the original plate glass universities. Essex's shield consists of the ancient arms attributed to the Kingdom of Es ...

in recognition of his "distinguished contribution to the local community as an artist and defender of our community and natural heritage." His style evokes the spirit of rural and maritime East Anglia with scenes of daily life and folklore. He has also conceived, illustrated and hand-produced a series of handmade artists' books. A short film, "Shaped by the Sea", about Dodds, by

Emily Harris Emily Harris (born February 11, 1947 as Emily Montague Schwartz) was, along with her husband William Harris (1945–), a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), an American left-wing terrorist group involved in murder, kidnapping, and ...

for Classic Yacht TV was released in May 2014. Played Anthony's father in Joanna Hogg's Sundance Grand Jury winning Film

The Souvenir ''The Souvenir'' is a 2019 drama film written and directed by Joanna Hogg. A semi-autobiographical account of Hogg's experiences at film school, it stars Honor Swinton Byrne, Tom Burke and Tilda Swinton. ''The Souvenir'' had its world premie ...

& The Souvenir II

Awards

*1999 Awarded GMC Trust Best in Show ‘Aldeburgh Beach’ *2007 Honorary doctorate from University of Essex. *2012 Ian Collins biography “James Dodds Tide Lines" wins EDP Jarrolds East Anglian Art & Photography Book Award *2016 John Nash medal from Colchester Art Society *2021 Ian Collins biography “James Dodds The Blue Boat”

Exhibitions

Selected solo exhibitions

*1984/1995/1998/2000,

Aldeburgh Festival The Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts is an English arts festival devoted mainly to classical music. It takes place each June in the Aldeburgh area of Suffolk, centred on Snape Maltings Concert Hall. History of the Aldeburgh Festival Th ...

*1985, "Ship of Fools",

Hatton Gallery The Hatton Gallery is Newcastle University's art gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It is based in the University's Fine Art Building. The Hatton Gallery briefly closed in February 2016 for a £3.8 million redevelopment and reopened i ...

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

*1986, "Fish, Flesh or Fowl",

Christchurch Mansion Christchurch Mansion is a substantial Tudor brick mansion house built in Ipswich, Suffolk by Edmund Withypoll (also written "Withipoll") around 1548–50. The Grade I listed building is located within Christchurch Park and sits by the southe ...

*1989/1990/1995/1997, Printworks,

*1989/1992/1995, Bircham Contemporary Arts,

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the No ...

*1990/1994/1995, Chappel Galleries,

*1992, Sue Rankin Gallery, London Two man show with

John Bratby John Randall Bratby RA (19 July 1928 – 20 July 1992) was an English painter who founded the kitchen sink realism style of art that was influential in the late 1950s. He made portraits of his family and celebrities. His works were seen i ...

RA *2001, North House Gallery,

with John Reay "Blue Boat".

Gallery *2004/ 2006/ 2007/ 2009/ 2011/ 2013 /2015/ 2016/ 2017/ 2018 /2020 Messum's. Cork Street.

*2010/ 2012/ 2017Dowling Walsh Gallery, Rockland, Maine. USA *2015-2016 Wood to Water, Firstsite,Colchester *2019-2020 Wood to Water, National Maritime Museum Cornwall *2021 The Blue Boat, David Messum Fine Art,London

Selected group exhibitions

*1991/1998/1999/2000, Royal Academy Summer Exhibition *1993,

Wetzlar Wetzlar () is a city in the state of Hesse, Germany. It is the twelfth largest city in Hesse with currently 55,371 inhabitants at the beginning of 2019 (including second homes). As an important cultural, industrial and commercial center, the un ...

, Germany *1994, John Callahan Gallery,

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, United States *1995, "4 from Wivenhoe". Courcoux & Courcoux, Hampshire "Ultra Marine", Liverpool "Forth, Tyne, Dogger", Brewery Arts, Cirencester *1996, Peter Scott Gallery, Lancaster University "The Sea", Black Swan Arts, Frome *1997, City Arts Gallery. Leeds Union of Artists, St. Petersburg, Russia Mall Gallery,

*1999, Eastern Open. King's Lynn Arts Centre, Norfolk Mystic Seaport. USA: New York Ship Terminal, United States *2000, The Hunting Art Prizes.

*2000, "Alphabet Soup". Printworks,

Sudbury, Suffolk Sudbury (, ) is a market town in the south west of Suffolk, England, on the River Stour near the Essex border, north-east of London. At the 2011 census, it had a population of 13,063. It is the largest town in the Babergh local government d ...

*2001/2003,2006,2007,2008,2009,2010,2011, Messum's Cork Street.

*2013, "Masterpieces,Art and East Anglia" Sainsbury Centre, Norwich.

Reviews

"Looking at the paintings of James Dodds for the first time one is struck by the literalness of the work, the sheer specificity of plank on frame built outward by the practiced hand of a man whose obsession with the form and structure of boats had taken him out of school at fifteen and into a shipyard apprenticeship. Slowly, however, the force of his artistry begins to gather beyond this initial impression. In a striking and mysterious piece of visual alchemy, what once seemed specific now glides toward the abstract. Parts, once distinct, become a whole. A lyric buoyancy emerges. Our consciousness fuses with our unconscious. The eye and the mind's eye become one." -Mayher, Bill. "An Eye for Boats, A Sense of Place: The Art of James Dodds." Wooden Boat Publication 2008. And in Dodd's world, as in ours, the water is always there. His landscapes, rather than showing a fish-eye view, show a sea's-eye view. Here mankind and its works are laid before us – frail, clever, tender, damaged, beautiful and trying to stay safely alive. His perspective shows us our home from the point of view of the outsider. We are perhaps seeing as a boatman would, or a Viking raider, a Wivenhoe smuggler, a war time mariner. We may be aloft at a masthead, we may be adrift in time. And we may be angels. Something about the work insists – we may be angels with salt on our wings. A L Kennedy, writer and broadcaster.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dodds, James 1957 births Living people People from Brightlingsea People from Wivenhoe