Living History: Jane Boyd

My defining moment at Trinity

Silence and light open up the mind. Ancillary support frees the hands. In the Fellowship, where accomplishment is measured in academic papers, I discussed those elements of art practice which underpin visual language: form, colour-balance, light and optics. I engaged in alternative ways of thinking, and forged new ideas and technical approaches. These aspects of Trinity life were transformative.

As the first woman Fellow Commoner in Creative Arts, I quickly recognised familiar territory when visited by an undergraduate who was painting large canvases by night in the basement. This encounter heralded the start of studio seminars at 02 Great Court, open to any undergraduate interested in the visual arts.

Jane Boyd was a Fellow Commoner in Creative Arts, 1981-83. www.janeboyd.co.uk