Blog 13 - Painting at the Ness is Making History Published August 2024

As the Ness of Brodgar approaches it’s end, Jeanne Bouza Rose reflects on the role of an artist in preserving more than just the artefacts. 

As Featured in Scottish Field Blog !    https://www.scottishfield.co.uk/arts-antiques/ness-of-brodgar-an-artists-legacy-jeanne-bouza-rose-creates-stunning-visual-record-of-orkneys-neolithic-site/

Photo of Jeanne on site this year thanks to Jo Bourne

When the Ness of Brodgar is covered up for the last time later this summer, there will be a feeling of loss not just to the archaeological teams that have dug here over the past 20 years but also to the international visitors to our island as well as the local community. When covered by earth, whilst it will be preserved for many generations, the ability, the yearning to physically look into our past will be lost until some future generation opens it again.

As an artist in residence since 2018, Jeanne Bouza Rose’s mission has been to both figuratively and literally give colour to the detailed records and findings of the dig. During this final season, her work will continue to be a different kind of visual record. The paintings will capture the ever-changing light dancing on the land, water and sky, giving a sense of the buildings and the work of the people.

Nick Card, Director of the Ness of Brodgar identified the need to widen the archives and records of the dig. He says “From the start of excavations at the Ness of Brodgar over 20 years ago we have wanted to record the site through as many means as possible to compliment the traditional archaeological methods. The numerous artists in residence have captured using a multitude of media – sketching, painting, ceramics, sound, and film - many aspects of the excavations not normally preserved. All of this will form a valuable part of the overall site archive and legacy.”

Jeanne Bouza Rose says

“As an artist, I try to capture not just these big moments but also the smaller one’s. The one’s that show the focus, the meticulous nature of the archaeological work. I am drawn to colours and shapes within the whole environmental space.

Too often the artefacts are left to academics, perfectly catalogued and analysed. However as an artist my objectives are different. For me it is about capturing the moments and conveying a more nuanced story. I focus mostly on the past stone and earth remains letting the look of a wall or the shadows on a group of stones draw my interest. I generally ignore the human component moving around the site instead trying to read the energy of the lives that made the place, the walls, the hearths.”

Jeanne has been a volunteer at the dig since 2011 and latterly from 2018 one of the artists in residence. She says about her work:

“My first oil painting at the Ness was large enough to cover the wall of the 15 foot long portacabin, that had been delivered to the site by mistake. We had planned on an 8 foot long wall. I created a montage of the site from north and south with features from Structure One and Twelve and the huge bulk of earth left for soil samples displaying a rainbow of earthy colours and recesses dark with shadows from the skilled hands of micromorphologists. On the canvas surface, I incised the more distinct marks found on Ness stones, using a stone from the Ness spoil heap. I added earth from the site into the paint and I invited archaeologists to leave their favourite archaeological word or phrase along the bottom to form the roots of it all. This painting is now the backdrop in the Orkney Museum for the key artefacts. It warms the stones and the exhibition with its colour and hopefully brings a sense of the life the stones once surrounded.

Open days have became increasingly important. Capturing worldwide interest, people came from far in the world to witness the discoveries. Numerous film crews, writers, and photographers have come and in their ways spread the word.

Jeanne continues:

"What this final season holds for my work is still a bit unknown. I load my car up with all the materials I might want to use given the weather. I have prepared a number of canvas with a gesso mixed with earth from the spoil heap and some pigment from some powdered haemaetite and ochre. The Ness will be closing having reached reached the final floor of the last layer of occupation and use. I plan on starting just there, on the floor and will build up being grateful that I am one of the last folks recording impressions, colour and shape as the original builders had also done at the start of it all.

I had a very successful online and in person exhibition of all my artwork painted onsite up until the 2023 season. I had started some gesture drawings of working folks in 2022 and I included more in 2023 as I realized that I was often the sole watcher on the sidelines able to capture the final work in the trenches. The weather was flexible and so the work was speedy so I tried to capture the gestures of people, plastic and tyres light and colour of the diggers cloths and their postures against the sky in the ending days."

About Jeanne Bouza Rose

Jeanne Bouza Rose is a New York trained artist who has been creating art for over 40 years. Her work is in private collections worldwide and she has exhibited extensively. Rose is particularly known for her landscapes, which are often inspired by her travels to remote and exotic locations.

Rose was born in the USA and grew up on Long Island, New York. She began painting at a young age, and quickly developed a love of art. She has studied painting and drawing, printmaking and she graduated with honors.

A yearlong Fulbright teaching exchange brought her to Paisley, Scotland in the 80s. After a successful teaching career back in New York, she started successful cultural-immersion art holiday workshops in Orkney. Through these visits to Orkney, she established herself as a successful artist, and eventually she opened a studio in Stromness, Orkney. Orkney is the landscape or her lifelong dreams. Her work continues to grow in private collections worldwide and is available online.

Jeanne Bouza Rose is a passionate artist maintaining studios on both sides of the Atlantic. She teaches the Orkney Woodcut, a variation on the Provincetown printmaking technique, at the Woodstock School of Art, Woodstock, New York. Copies of her work were recently sold in the British Museum to support the World of Stonehenge exhibition 2022. She is always looking for new ways to express herself, and her paintings are constantly evolving.

www.jeannebouzarose.com

Email: jeanne@artworksoftheearth.com

Call:+44 7900 982 612

About the Ness of Brodgar 

The Ness of Brodgar is a prehistoric site located on the Orkney Islands in Scotland. The site reveals a massive complex of monumental Neolithic buildings. Without parallel in Atlantic Europe, its three hectares are filled with stone structures containing spectacular finds. An unexpected wealth of information about the lives of the people who lived there over 6,000 years ago has been revealed over the past 20 years of excavating. However, the excavations at the Ness of Brodgar will cease in 2024. The site will be covered over and returned to grasses.

The Ness of Brodgar is one of the most important archaeological excavations in the world today, changing our understanding of the culture and beliefs of Neolithic Orkney. It is a unique window into the past and has and will continue to draw worldwide attention even after it closes in 2024.

www.NessofBrodgar.co.uk