Artist Peter McDonald joined Jesus College as one of our first Short Term Visiting Fellows in Art last year, with the aim of producing a new body of creative work to enhance both the College’s art collection, and the artistic life of our community. Here, he writes about his time at Jesus, the inspirations for his latest works, and shares some of his new paintings.
“My Fellowship began in February 2023. Usually my practice evolves from some personal experience which I translate into a painting. It can then be developed on its own terms. Initially, I was familiarising myself with the college and city on my day trips from my studio in London. I travelled to Oxford once or twice a month. Through these experiences I hoped to get acquainted with the Jesus College community and Oxford.
In late June, purely by chance, I sat next to Professor Mike Glazer at lunch in the SCR. He discussed X-ray crystallography with me; its uses and history, and how crystals are so prevalent in all aspects of our lives. I began to research some of the names he mentioned, including William Henry Bragg (1862-1942), the founder of the field. The images I found on the internet, as well as the conversation with Professor Glazer, allowed me to envisage an imaginary crystallography teacher with his students in the laboratory.
Class, Acrylic gouache, glitter paint, gold leaf on canvas, 150 x 200cm.
Experiment, Acrylic gouache, glitter paint, gold leaf, felt on canvas, 200 x 160cms
Crystallographers. Acrylic gouache, gold leaf, glitter paint, metal foil, volcanic sand, metal foil on canvas, 100 x 140 cm.
I began making studies with paint on A4 paper. This led me to create two large scale paintings on canvas, and numerous smaller studies. Each painting usually gives me further ideas, and it was from one of these studies of the crystallography classroom that I started developing another strand of imagery. One of the paintings included an image of students huddled around a laptop.
Googling. Acrylic gouache on canvas, 150 x 200cms
Earlier, in my visits to the Cheng Yu Tung Building, I had noticed the laptops being used by the students and wanted to somehow reference our reliance on this ubiquitous tool in my paintings. I made numerous studies on paper, and once I was satisfied with the basic composition and narrative, I made five larger paintings on canvas, and some smaller works also. I wanted to include some reference to the Cheng Yu Tung Building so in one of the paintings I included aspects of the cafeteria furniture.
Hub Study. Acrylic gouache, glitter paint on paper, 21 x 29.5cms
Having the opportunity to meet interesting, and knowledgeable academics, as well as students, was one of the key parts of my Fellowship. It allowed me to discover new subject matter for my painting, and this in turn generated more ideas through the painting process. Finding new subjects to paint through everyday experiences is one of the foundations of my practice.
Being in Oxford and participating in the Jesus College community allowed me to experience something I could not have imagined.”
Jesus College would like to thank Rosaline Wong and HomeArt for their generous support of the Fellowship, and introduction to Peter. It would also like to thank the Kate MacGarry Gallery for supporting Peter during his association, and for representing his work from the association, which can be viewed in full here. Please enquire directly with the Gallery if you are interested in purchasing any works by Peter.