Jo McChesney graduated from Bath Academy of Art in 1985 specialising in illustration, handmade paper and print, during this time she was selected to study at the Cooper Union School of Art, New York. After working as an illustrator and part time lecturer, she travelled to Kyoto, Japan to study the traditional technique of woodblock printing. The natural world is the source of inspiration for Jo. Trees, weather and water are a recurrent theme, from the changing light of dense woodland to starkly lit trees against a bright sky. Her work focuses on transient moments in time; ripples on water, or drawing attention to unnoticed fleeting happenings. She uses collected drawings and juxtaposes these with memories of time and place. Often the images are not fully realised at the stage of carving and can evolve and change through the process of the cutting. Each print is burnished by hand which allows the soft texture of the wood to emerge.