giorann henshaw

At 17 years I was accepted at the Royal Worcester Porcelain in the UK on a one year foundation course. I entered the school where I was taught to paint on china and porcelain, make moulds and sculpture. On completion I was offered a place at the factory floor on the enamelling section painting dinner ware, thimbles, children’s birthday mugs and Dorothy Doughty Bird Plates. I stayed there for 4 years until I came back to Gibraltar having met my husband Steve there and had my first child.
After having my two other children I was offered to take part in the Marina Bay market organized by Patrick Francis from Bianca’s Restaurant. This was the start of a great creative adventure. There I met Lavinia Borda who has remained a friend for more than 20 years, Dee Andrew , Doris Gafan, Angelique Spiteri and Arnica Swift, we all made crafts and sold these every Saturday morning. I also met Sonia Golt who took over the running of the market from Patrick. We all had a great creative need to show our products and constantly keep making different things. These were good times, were we all learned to work with each other as a group.
I achieved a BA Honors in Fine Art and History of Art through the Open University. 20 years on I teach children from the ages of 4+ to 17+ and adults to draw and paint. I organize exhibitions for them every two years. The purpose of this is to encourage them and to take pride in the hard work that they do. I teach them to observe the subject matter and to mix colours and interpret what they see on to the picture plane. In the summer I take the students outdoor painting which they love. We are out doors painting at the Botanical gardens or the marinas or sometimes the beaches.

I Paint the china and sell these at the Gibraltar Museum, the Heritage Trust shop and the Caleta Hotel. I paint to order for special occasions. I also do face and body painting and have painted children and adults for fashion shows, dance concerts, plays , shows, and on the Summer Nights, which are events organized by the Ministry of Culture during the summer period.

I have had a solo exhibition of my paintings at Bianca’s Restaurant and at present have paintings at the Fine Arts Gallery. I paint with water colours, Acrylics and oils. I am quite a conservative artist I think my training in porcelain painting made me love to paint flowers and stylistic landscapes. I am influenced by my moods and paint with different mediums according to the energy I derive from the day. I use water colours when I am most at peace and relaxed. When painting in oils I am most energetic and use paints in a more decisive and firm manner with sharper strokes and thicker consistency. In acrylics I use its pure properties to re energize and investigate its consistency interpreting the pictorial form into a more contemporary approach.