A New Series by James Dodds

For some, James Dodds’ Look Out paintings might represent something of a departure. After all, his beautiful linocuts of little ports have a discernible tranquillity, and his paintings of boats are filled with an almost entrancing, numinous and meditative quality. This seems very far from the life of a refugee trying to survive in one of the ‘small boats’ so maligned by successive UK governments, or from the early, anxious days of the Covid pandemic, from war and devastation – from the dark subjects and the implicit dismay in the use of paint and colour in the Look Out works…”

A. L. Kennedy

17th-century prequel to Pearl River, about the family of William King, an 18th-century Wivenhoe shipwright. 

Captain John King & the Nimble Ketch is the tale of a Wivenhoe man and his boat. John became the first master of the famous Wivenhoe-built ketch Nonsuch in 1651, hired to work the sands of the Thames Estuary. He went on to take part in some of the most decisive sea battles ever fought off the East Anglian coast for Commonwealth and Crown, rising to become a Captain in the King’s Navy. This story reveals the importance of the ketches Nonsuch and Wivenhoe, protecting the local maritime trade against pirates and carrying “advice” and orders for the Navy. The Company of Adventurers made these two little vessels famous when starting the Hudson Bay fur trade. 

James was asked to give a talk at the Wooden Boat Gathering at the Windermere Jetty Museum, 28th-30th June 2024. It was a well-organised and informative weekend, incidentally coinciding with the Swallows and Amazon film 50th anniversary!

The other speakers were: Gabriel Hemery, author, tree photographer, and forest scientist who writes, lives, and breathes trees, Abbey Molyneux, Norfolk based boatbuilder specialising in the restoration and preservation of historical wooden boats, and Gail McGarva, a traditional wooden boat builder who is passionate about working boats and the stories they hold.

A fine time was had by all. Can’t wait for the next gathering.

Ian Collins’ biography of James Dodds, The Blue Boat, last night won the New Angle Prize and University of Suffolk’s Creative Suffolk Author Award: a literary award celebrating outstanding writing which contributes to Suffolk’s creative output. The prize aims to showcase the strength of diverse literary voices in the county and aims to reward the work of a writer who has made an important contribution to the literary landscape of the county.

Pearl River
a Wivenhoe Shipwright’s story
£8.99 [buy]

James Dodds’ historical novella Pearl River is a portrait of a maritime community through the eighteenth century, told by a father and son learning their trade on the river famous for oysters, shipbuilding and fast customs cutters.

“The story is woven from a few facts gleaned from wills and parish records, threaded through with my imagining of what their lives would have been like. Most events, names and dates are real; in tribute to the people whose lives I’ve enjoyed uncovering, their stories have been spun afresh with the help of my fictional William King and his son.”

The new stained glass window dedication at St Mary’s Wivenhoe. 9th July 2022

Updated video:

Designed by James Dodds, made by Andy Brooke

www.thecornhall.co.uk

16 October – 27 November

James Dodds: Shaped by the Sea

Private view night, 2nd November 2021, at 12 Bury Street, St James’s.