Jo Volley has been commissioned to develop a new work for the public spaces in the building rooted in her research exploring colour and pigments.
She is currently collaborating with academics from the Queen Square Institute of Neurology to develop a database and archive of the colours used by researchers and staff from across the ION-DRI community to create a painted timeline.
Volley is Associate Professor at the Slade School of Fine Art, UCL, where she studied from 1972-77 and taught since 1986, Coordinator of the Material Research Project & Network and director of the Material Museum. In 2019, she established Colour & Poetry: A Symposium, a cross-disciplinary international event held at the Slade in celebration of International Colour Day and World Poetry Day and since 2020 World Pigment Day, co-founded with Dr Ruth Siddall.
Her most recently funded research projects include: The Pigment Timeline Project, From Pigments to Solar Power, Colour & Emotion Toolkit, and The Pigment Farm. In 2021 she was commissioned to create a wall painting, Van Gogh’s Colour Timeline, for the Van Gogh House, London. She is currently Artist in Residence at UCL, Institute of Archaeology Conservation Dept investigating historic pigments and inks.
Pigment Timeline, Jo Volley, 2014. Photograph by Danny Treacy and Sarah Pickering
Tell us about how your work as an artist involves colour
I come from a traditional painting background, but also work with all sorts of different media including three-dimensional , print and projection.
Five years ago I founded Colour & Poetry: A Symposium that celebrates International Colour Day and World Poetry Day 21-22 March which brings together people from across many different disciplines who are interested in colour at UCL and beyond
For a number of years now, I've been more and more interested in colour and the source of colour - where it comes from, pigments and dyes.
I have developed an archive of these colours. I run the Slade Material Research Project, UCL. We have a pigment collection which has colours from all over the world from different manufacturers. It’s a fantastic resource for our research and for students.
Slade School of Research Materials Research Project Pigment Library Permanent Exhibition, UCL
Many projects have come out of it including the Pigment Timeline - a visual historical timeline of natural and manufactured colour, which you can see on public display in the north cloisters on the main UCL campus. Also – a project on Colour & Emotion – where I worked with a geographer and a speech therapist to find a way for people with aphasia (when a person has difficulty with language or speech, often caused by damage to the left side of the brain e.g. after a stroke). I’ve also worked with chemists on a piece about making solar power from pigments and one about cooling the world down.
What is it about colour that fascinates you?
I've got this daft idea that colour can actually save the world! Everything's about colour - we use colour every day within our lives. It tells us about the beauty of the world.
I have a jar of lapis lazuli – one of the most beautiful blues – in my studio. It tells you about the landscape of where it comes from, it tells you about mining, the history of art and belief systems. Colour spans so many different disciplines.
We did a survey some years ago about saw how many people at UCL worked with colour in different areas, whether using pigments, stains or colour coding. I felt this was a thing that could unite us as a university, and start research partnerships. It’s fantastic that these little bags of pigment and colour can bring people together.
What interests you about working on the ION-DRI project?
I was really excited about the possibility that colour could really benefit people or open some doors in some way. I have a history of collaborating with researchers and scientists and its always exciting to come from a different angle and to work with new people. I’m looking forward to engaging more with researchers and to understand and reflect their work and research.
I would be very interested in making a site-specific colour timeline - something of beauty in the building and something for people to look at, read and learn something new. Estelle is interested in making a pamphlet or booklet that could be really informative.
What’s your favourite colour?
I couldn’t choose. There are just so many and it depends on what I’m working on. A genuine ultramarine is a big favourite of mine, but then there are curious colours, like Indian yellow – made originally from cow urine, beautiful old historic colours like Stil de grain, made from buckthorn and now there is a modern iridescent version.
Slade School of Research Materials Research Project Pigment Library Permanent Exhibition, UCL
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