Janet Waring Rago
I am studio-based in the UK, inhabiting, gradually regenerating, and transforming a listed former chapel with my fellow artist and husband, Alexis Rago. Over many years, The Chapel and its internal architecture (all one room illuminated with light coming to us from tall windows above) and context have profoundly influenced all the work that has been done within it, most of which is still held here.
In 2019, I completed (with distinction) an MA in Visual Arts, Fine Art Digital, Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts, London; and was also awarded the Alumni Prize. I have maintained my presence at CSM as a guest practitioner. I am affiliated with CSM as a research paper Tutor for MA (Visual Arts) Fine Art Digital. I find interdisciplinary conversations and collaborations traversing fields of thought and discipline that are otherwise held separate, particularly enriching.
Earlier, I gained a BSc (Hons) in Botany at Manchester University and a postgraduate certificate in education from Leicester University. I then studied painting in Florence, Italy, living and working there for about a decade, also developing a deep interest in art history. I am a fellow of the Linnean Society of London, the world's oldest extant natural history society. One-person public gallery shows include Leicester Museum and Art Gallery New Walk, Cooper Gallery, Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery, and The British Institute of Florence. My practice now extends across four decades, as a continuum of research, development and evolution. I have also been included in numerous group shows in the UK and abroad. In addition, my practice has embraced numerous creative and professional roles in conjunction with the above, involving writing about and giving talks around my work to diverse audiences.
In my visual art practice, I have asked myself how to portray a feeling of correlation with nature, internally and externally, as the perception and intelligence of being alive. I approach a painting as if it were a form of cultivation, an adaptive system, something living. That the painting's aliveness does not concur with the biological definition of a living thing means that I make a statement in this also of artistic freedom. However, the beautiful logic of the scientific is also embedded in my work. Painting/a painting is a boundless field of possibility in that the painting has the latent potential to be anything, and this poietic possibility fascinates me; it has a feeling of alchemy and the sacred simultaneously, the immanent and transcendental opposites all wrapped up in one. However, I must also keep my feet on the ground, which is essential to achieving anything.
In keeping with the etymology of "to cultivate", I think of painting, the painting, as a habitation held open as much for its eventual audience as for me in its production. The impetus for my painting lies in its regenerative and transformative potential, which is inherent to it and extends beyond it once it is entirely in the world. That the digital realm might extend the physical work endlessly is a matter of great excitement to me. However, I remain grounded in the physical work coming first - future horizons as they unfold are always a matter of the continuously evolving past. I try to clarify something of the above (and much more besides) in the interplay of the pictorial elements, visible and invisible, physical and immaterial, over time. I call my system of painting pictopoiesis, a word designed to reintegrate painting and poetry.
https://linktr.ee/jwaringrago
https://janetwaringrago.substack.com
Blog/Artist's Journal: http://www.jwaringrago.blog
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jwaringrago
Academia: https://jwaringrago.academia.edu/
Adaptive site: https://sites.google.com/view/jwaringrago/studiohome
Earlier work: http://janetwaring.com/
And contact for me is probably best by email: [email protected]
Supervisors: MA Supervisors: Jonathan Kearney and Gareth Polmeer .
Phone: 01673878615
In 2019, I completed (with distinction) an MA in Visual Arts, Fine Art Digital, Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts, London; and was also awarded the Alumni Prize. I have maintained my presence at CSM as a guest practitioner. I am affiliated with CSM as a research paper Tutor for MA (Visual Arts) Fine Art Digital. I find interdisciplinary conversations and collaborations traversing fields of thought and discipline that are otherwise held separate, particularly enriching.
Earlier, I gained a BSc (Hons) in Botany at Manchester University and a postgraduate certificate in education from Leicester University. I then studied painting in Florence, Italy, living and working there for about a decade, also developing a deep interest in art history. I am a fellow of the Linnean Society of London, the world's oldest extant natural history society. One-person public gallery shows include Leicester Museum and Art Gallery New Walk, Cooper Gallery, Doncaster Museum and Art Gallery, and The British Institute of Florence. My practice now extends across four decades, as a continuum of research, development and evolution. I have also been included in numerous group shows in the UK and abroad. In addition, my practice has embraced numerous creative and professional roles in conjunction with the above, involving writing about and giving talks around my work to diverse audiences.
In my visual art practice, I have asked myself how to portray a feeling of correlation with nature, internally and externally, as the perception and intelligence of being alive. I approach a painting as if it were a form of cultivation, an adaptive system, something living. That the painting's aliveness does not concur with the biological definition of a living thing means that I make a statement in this also of artistic freedom. However, the beautiful logic of the scientific is also embedded in my work. Painting/a painting is a boundless field of possibility in that the painting has the latent potential to be anything, and this poietic possibility fascinates me; it has a feeling of alchemy and the sacred simultaneously, the immanent and transcendental opposites all wrapped up in one. However, I must also keep my feet on the ground, which is essential to achieving anything.
In keeping with the etymology of "to cultivate", I think of painting, the painting, as a habitation held open as much for its eventual audience as for me in its production. The impetus for my painting lies in its regenerative and transformative potential, which is inherent to it and extends beyond it once it is entirely in the world. That the digital realm might extend the physical work endlessly is a matter of great excitement to me. However, I remain grounded in the physical work coming first - future horizons as they unfold are always a matter of the continuously evolving past. I try to clarify something of the above (and much more besides) in the interplay of the pictorial elements, visible and invisible, physical and immaterial, over time. I call my system of painting pictopoiesis, a word designed to reintegrate painting and poetry.
https://linktr.ee/jwaringrago
https://janetwaringrago.substack.com
Blog/Artist's Journal: http://www.jwaringrago.blog
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jwaringrago
Academia: https://jwaringrago.academia.edu/
Adaptive site: https://sites.google.com/view/jwaringrago/studiohome
Earlier work: http://janetwaring.com/
And contact for me is probably best by email: [email protected]
Supervisors: MA Supervisors: Jonathan Kearney and Gareth Polmeer .
Phone: 01673878615
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Papers by Janet Waring Rago
A painting in progress involves a continuous cycle of conscious removal and return, as I work on it and then step back to reflect on it. This dynamic, a bodily experience in which I am both creator and viewer, is significant in pictopoiesis. The painting evolves like a living organism, a growing and developing body that reveals its nature as it progresses. I perceive the work from within as if looking at it through a microscope, and from the outside when I step back, allowing me two contrasting yet complementary perspectives. As a result, I experience the work as a symbiotic relationship where the painting and I each play a distinct role in shaping a greater whole.
Each decision I make, whether in colour, texture, or form, feels less like an imposition and more like a nurturing gesture, supporting the artwork’s organic growth. Unexpected, and often surprising moments of transformation, are not mistakes, but opportunities for expansion, enriching the image’s possibilities. This dynamic interaction embodies a balancing act of feedback loops that align the work with life-sustaining biological processes, like homeostasis. The painting is alive in its way, and I cultivate it as a living entity, transferring myself into it as it reciprocates by visibly mirroring my otherwise invisible consciousness of being alive.
In this process, I aim to free both the creator and viewer by selectively rendering traditional boundaries permeable, like a living membrane. The layered translucencies in the painting are especially significant in visibly rendering this emancipatory permeability. Pictopoiesis strives to counter the divisive urge, instead looking toward a unified horizon, one shaped without the loss or compromise of individuality.
The image shown, Cultivating a Commons, is an original painting in oil on aluminium, 1250 x 1230 mm, by J. Waring Rago.
Alt Text description of featured image:This is an abstract painting, an original work by J.Waring Rago, in oil on aluminium, measuring 1250 x 1230 mm. The composition features translucent overlapping circles in varying shades of white, pink, blue, and coloured greys. The translucent circles create a layered, ethereal effect, evoking a sense of depth and fluidity. A delicate white line weaves across the image like a freeform boundary or contour, curving and twisting in a loose, organic pattern. Circular forms resembling cellular or organic structures stand out, adding a sense of biological growth. The centre shifts towards deeper blue tones, surrounded by pale hues, contributing to the painting's harmonious, serene and dreamlike quality.
This paper proposes a poietic description of a painting’s making in terms of poetry, neuroscience and philosophy. A comparison is made between the poiesis of painting and that of poetry with respect to their time-based modalities. William Kentridge’s process is used to link the two. The neuroscientific theory of practopoiesis is introduced as a means of understanding painting as a manifestation of the formation of intelligence and the embedding of intelligent thought in a painting. The philosophical relationship between artificiality and nature, is analysed in a dialectic that reconciles the use of a digital medium as a continuation of a painting’s poiesis. Finally, a mixed reality (MR) scenario is envisaged which involves the viewer in a mind-body cognitive appreciation of the time-based narrative of a painting. This links poetry, practopoiesis and philosophical considerations in a disclosure of the time-based narrative of the painting, otherwise largely hidden in its completed form. The role of state of mind with respect to creative production is also considered. The implications of this methodology extend to education, expressive arts therapy and neuroscientific research. It is argued that MR is not necessarily a vehicle to be used primarily for entertainment with respect to the arts. The paper concludes with the formulation of the term ‘Pictopoiesis’ which describes the process of making a painting in terms of an active adaptive system synchronous with the painting’s gestalt presence. Pictopoiesis is the start of an evolving framework revitalising the place of painting in contemporary art practice.
Keywords: painting, poetry, poiesis, practopoiesis, pictopoiesis
Teaching Documents by Janet Waring Rago
Drafts by Janet Waring Rago
A painting in progress involves a continuous cycle of conscious removal and return, as I work on it and then step back to reflect on it. This dynamic, a bodily experience in which I am both creator and viewer, is significant in pictopoiesis. The painting evolves like a living organism, a growing and developing body that reveals its nature as it progresses. I perceive the work from within as if looking at it through a microscope, and from the outside when I step back, allowing me two contrasting yet complementary perspectives. As a result, I experience the work as a symbiotic relationship where the painting and I each play a distinct role in shaping a greater whole.
Each decision I make, whether in colour, texture, or form, feels less like an imposition and more like a nurturing gesture, supporting the artwork’s organic growth. Unexpected, and often surprising moments of transformation, are not mistakes, but opportunities for expansion, enriching the image’s possibilities. This dynamic interaction embodies a balancing act of feedback loops that align the work with life-sustaining biological processes, like homeostasis. The painting is alive in its way, and I cultivate it as a living entity, transferring myself into it as it reciprocates by visibly mirroring my otherwise invisible consciousness of being alive.
In this process, I aim to free both the creator and viewer by selectively rendering traditional boundaries permeable, like a living membrane. The layered translucencies in the painting are especially significant in visibly rendering this emancipatory permeability. Pictopoiesis strives to counter the divisive urge, instead looking toward a unified horizon, one shaped without the loss or compromise of individuality.
The image shown, Cultivating a Commons, is an original painting in oil on aluminium, 1250 x 1230 mm, by J. Waring Rago.
Alt Text description of featured image:This is an abstract painting, an original work by J.Waring Rago, in oil on aluminium, measuring 1250 x 1230 mm. The composition features translucent overlapping circles in varying shades of white, pink, blue, and coloured greys. The translucent circles create a layered, ethereal effect, evoking a sense of depth and fluidity. A delicate white line weaves across the image like a freeform boundary or contour, curving and twisting in a loose, organic pattern. Circular forms resembling cellular or organic structures stand out, adding a sense of biological growth. The centre shifts towards deeper blue tones, surrounded by pale hues, contributing to the painting's harmonious, serene and dreamlike quality.
This paper proposes a poietic description of a painting’s making in terms of poetry, neuroscience and philosophy. A comparison is made between the poiesis of painting and that of poetry with respect to their time-based modalities. William Kentridge’s process is used to link the two. The neuroscientific theory of practopoiesis is introduced as a means of understanding painting as a manifestation of the formation of intelligence and the embedding of intelligent thought in a painting. The philosophical relationship between artificiality and nature, is analysed in a dialectic that reconciles the use of a digital medium as a continuation of a painting’s poiesis. Finally, a mixed reality (MR) scenario is envisaged which involves the viewer in a mind-body cognitive appreciation of the time-based narrative of a painting. This links poetry, practopoiesis and philosophical considerations in a disclosure of the time-based narrative of the painting, otherwise largely hidden in its completed form. The role of state of mind with respect to creative production is also considered. The implications of this methodology extend to education, expressive arts therapy and neuroscientific research. It is argued that MR is not necessarily a vehicle to be used primarily for entertainment with respect to the arts. The paper concludes with the formulation of the term ‘Pictopoiesis’ which describes the process of making a painting in terms of an active adaptive system synchronous with the painting’s gestalt presence. Pictopoiesis is the start of an evolving framework revitalising the place of painting in contemporary art practice.
Keywords: painting, poetry, poiesis, practopoiesis, pictopoiesis