My earliest passions were drawing and horses, my hero was Leonardo da Vinci, and my dream was to be an artist living in a wooded valley with a clear stream and horses grazing all around. There could be no other life for me.

^{The confines of school were tortuous and I was a disruptive student except with the remarkable art teacher whose support enabled me to take A level art two years early. I failed everything else except English language but was given a place at Walthamstow College to study fine art where drawing was considered the first essential.}

^{I was enthralled. I had already years of experience drawing my ponies in the field but drawing figures was new and I excelled in the life room. After a foundation year I went on to Goldsmiths College in London where sadly, at the time, figurative work was unfashionable, tutors seldom ventured into the life room, I gradually lost heart and stopped working}   

^{Predictably at the end of the year I was asked to leave the course.  The head of painting said I did not have the stuff that painters were made from but I might scrape a place on a course to do graphics. My confidence was shattered.  I was not interested in graphics.}

^{Shortly afterwards I met and married Bert Jansch, the legendary folk guitarist and in 1972  we relocated to a remote hill farm in Wales where I kept Welsh Cobs and helped my neighbour who bred Arabians and Thoroughbreds. I continued to study horses in depth and the accuracy of my equine drawings and paintings commanded high prices but ultimately I felt I was merely following in other artist's footsteps. I was frustrated and lost, not knowing how to find my own artistic voice.}

^{I sought advice from Arthur Giardelli, a contemporary artist of international standing with a well-deserved reputation for being a gifted teacher. He told me to go and look at a hedge and draw what made a thorn a thorn, not just what I saw, and, perhaps more to the point, to never stop working with horses but find a way to make them mine.}

^{SCULPTURE  the first steps.} 

^{In moving to Devon going to Newton Abbot and Devon & Exeter racecourses became a regular activity; I sketched the horses in the parade rings and my paintings naturally reflected the bright colours of the jockey's silks.}

^{I began to sculpt horses, experimenting first with clay whilst staying with my friend Sandy Brown the ceramic artist,and her then husband Takeshi Yasuda the celebrated Japanese potter.  I also experimented with plaster and later with copper wire which was a bit like drawing in the air. The resultant classical looking pieces reminded me of da Vinci's horse sketches but they lacked the power and essential nature of the horse I sought.}

^{Then out of the blue the answer came in on the tide. Driftwood. It was like a thunderbolt,  I had never seen any driftwood sculpture before.  It had a power and authentic quality that made it something extraordinary, and it was mine alone. I knew I was finally ready to show my work to the world. As a child I never could have dreamt that it would be driftwood horses that would make my name. Courcoux and Courcoux, a Stockbridge gallery specialising in contemporary fine art, adopted me as one of their 'house artists'. Read Ian Courcoux's foreword to one his catalogues.} 

^{I was invited to create a solo exhibition at The National Trust’s Saltram House and, in response to the beautiful stable yard, made my first life-sized mare and foal. The consequences of the change in scale were huge and happened very fast; the press went wild, and so did the public, at the time I was the only British artist working with driftwood; I needed to find a larger studio with greater level floor space.} 

^{Ugbrooke House, has a traditional stable courtyard and Lord Clifford offered to rent me the buildings together with the two cottages that formed the rear wall. I signed the lease in October.  It was heaven to have such an ideal working space and sculptures poured out of me. I took on a full time assistant and, in 2000, as part of the millennium celebrations,  I was invited to take part in 'The Shape of The Century' - 100 years of sculpture in Britain at Canary Wharf.  The exhibition included Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, Elizabeth Frink, Anish Kapoor, Anthony Gormley and David Nash, all established leading contemporary British sculptors.  I had become an artist of international standing, my sculpture was recognised world wide.} 

^{From there, Tim Smit KBE, and founder of The Eden Project, bought one of my horses whereupon it became known simply as The Eden Horse It was built in the Stable Courtyard at Ugbrooke and started a tradition of their visitors to coming to see what I was up to.  Numerous American sales resulted from that exposure.}  

^{Shortly afterwards I bought my current property, high on the slopes of a steep wooded valley, only two miles from Ugbrooke and started work on the landscape. I wanted to make a sculpture garden and a way down to the clear flowing stream in the valley floor that forms the boundary. The land had been untouched for forty years and was virtually impenetrable; creating a private sculpture garden quickly became a work of art itself and another of my passions, a place to display outdoor sculpture was essential but I had no idea how rewarding gardening was to become.} 

^{Ten years on, the house has been extended to incorporate a small gallery The valley is still a place of wonder to me and is rich with wildlife; it is maturing well and has become a favourite Devon Sculpture Garden where a selection of my sculptures are always on display for clients to see by appointment in the privacy of a fabulous setting.} 

^{The gardens open for charity twice a year with the N.G.S. and draw many return visitors. My driftwood sculptures are now increasingly cast in bronze imited editons.}

^{in 2009 I published  my first book, Heather Jansch's Diary  you can buy it online from this website.}

^{Tim Smit wrote  this for the back cover:}

 ^{" Possibly the most instinctive act of my life was to fall in love with a horse. Not just any horse, but a horse made of driftwood by the wonderful Heather Jansch. It was at exhibition at Eden and the time came for it to go home. I simply couldn't bear it. I bought it and have been fighting off would be purchasers ever since. Heather is a genius with an eye for nature that in another generation would have seen her burnt as a witch - now she is rightly considered one of our country's finest artists. If you were to ask the visitors to Eden "what is your favourite work here? It would be the horse and we gave the entrance to our kingdom to this horse. Richard 111 see it and weep."} 

^EXHIBITIONS

²⁰¹⁸

^{Deihl Gallery Jackson Hole Wyoming.} 

^{Doddington Hll Lincolnshire.} 

^{Watts Artists viliage Guildford.} 

^{Canwood Gallery Hereford}

^{2016/17 Gallery 161 Lower Richmond rd London.} 

^{2116 Sculpture by the Lakes Dorset.} 

^{2016 Lemon Street Gallery Truro Sculpture garden Withiel Cornwall}

^{2016 Canwood Gallery Hereford}

^{2014 Open Gardens NGS}

^{2013 July Mosaiculture Botnical Gardens Montreal Canada.}

^{2013 Gardens Open for Charity with the NGS.} 

^{2013 Art for interiors Number Twelve East Street.} 

^{2012 My own sculpture gallery and workshops at Number Twelve, East Street Ashburton Devon.}

^{2012 Open Gardens and Open Studios in my Devon sculpture garden.}

^{2012 The Darley Stud, Stallion Parade, Newmarket.} 

^{2011 Devon Open Studio and Open gardens for the NGS.}

^{2010 TAMED. The SPANISH BARN, Torre Abbey, Devon with Damien Hirst and Richard Long. July and August. Three major new pieces of equine art in driftwood and in bronze.}

^{2009 Established Olchard Press and published my first book.} 

^{Wrote, compiled and illustrated Heather Jansch's Diary
Goodwood race course.
Devon Open Studio and Sculpture Gardens.}

^{2008
Love London Recycled, London Zoo. Full size horse in oak.
Open Studio.
Sculpture garden features in NGS Open Gardens Yellow Book.}

^{2007
 Open Studio.
Artist in residence solo installation Arte Sella Borgo Valsugana. Italy www.artesella.it}

^{2006
 Open Studio developing sculpture garden and trail.
Artist in residence Arte Sella Italy.}

^{2005 Open Studio.
Newby Hall Yorkshire life-size works mixed show.}

^{2004
 Open Studio.
London Contemporary Arts Fair.
Paris. Jardin du Luxembourg Life-size works.}

^{2003 
First Open Studio at my place, Sedgewell Coach House. Devon.
Mixed show The Garden House, Wrexham Life-size works.
Eastnor Castle Mixed show Life-size driftwood works.
The Royal Albert Museum Exeter.}

^{2002
 Dartington Cider Press October/November small bronzes.
Solo show Courcoux and Courcoux Stockbridge .}

^{Open Studio. Development of woodland trail and gardens, sound installations, temporary and permanent site-specific installations.}

^{Mixed show The Foal Yard. Cambridge. June small bronzes.}

^{Salisbury Cathedral. 'In Praise of Trees'.}

^{Mixed show.
Art Parks International Sausmarez Manor Guernsey.}

^{London Contemporary Arts Fair.
South West Academy of Fine and Applied Arts, mixed show.}

^{2001
 London Contemporary Arts Fair.}

^{Solo exhibition Saltram House NT Plymouth.}

^{Solo show Dartington Cider Press. Bronzes.}

^{Artist in residence. The Eden Project. Cornwall. Driftwood sculptures for the Warm Temperate Biome and ongoing research and development.}

^{2000
 Solo show Courcoux and Courcoux Stockbridge.}

^{Sculpture in the Gardens Cotehele NT Cornwall. Life sized works.}

^{1999
 Mixed show 'The Shape of The Century-One Hundred Years of British Sculpture'. Canary Wharf London.
Artist in Residence Newbury Spring Festival.
Artist in Residence Appledore Arts Fair.}

^{1998
 Artist in Residence Appledore Arts Fair.}

^{Solo show Saltram House NT Plymouth.}

^{Solo show Courcoux and Courcoux Stockbridge.}

^{Mixed show 'Procession' Devon Guild of Craftsmen.}

1995
 London Contemporary Arts Fair.

1993
 Solo show Seymour Gallery Totnes paintings and sculpture.

1991
 Solo show Dartington.

1990
 Solo show Theatre Mwldan Cardigan.

1989
 Solo show Courcoux and Courcoux Salisbury.
Bath Arts Fair.
London Contemporary Arts Fair.

1987 
Solo show Devon Guild of Craftsmen Driftwood Sculptures.

1986
 Solo show Classics Gallery Devon.

1984
 Solo show Plough Theatre Torrington, painting and sculpture.

1981
 Moved to Devon. One-Year Sabbatical.

1998
Artist in Residence Appledore Arts Fair.
Solo show Saltram House NT Plymouth.
Solo show Courcoux and Courcoux Stockbridge.
Mixed show 'Procession' Devon Guild of Craftsmen.

1995

London Contemporary Arts Fair.

1993

Solo show Seymour Gallery Totnes paintings and sculpture.

1991

Solo show Dartington.

1990

Solo show Theatre Mwldan Cardigan.

1989

Solo show Courcoux and Courcoux Salisbury.
Bath Arts Fair.
London Contemporary Arts Fair.

1987

Solo show Devon Guild of Craftsmen Driftwood Sculptures.

1986

Solo show Classics Gallery Devon.

1984

Solo show Plough Theatre Torrington, painting and sculpture.

1981

Moved to Devon. One-Year Sabbatical.

1970

Moved to Wales. Traditional equestrian portraits in oils and watercolours to commission only.

1968

 

Trained in Fine Arts at Walthamstow and Goldsmiths College London.

 

Born Essex 1948.

 

 

 

 

 

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