Jennifer Douglas
I am interested in the tensions that emerge when familiar materials are displaced from their original function and context, revealing both formal and metaphorical possibilities. Time operates as a persistent thread throughout the work—not only through the histories embedded within materials, but also through acts of accumulation, deterioration, preservation, and obsolescence.
I am particularly drawn to materials that occupy a precarious position between permanence and disappearance, or which bear evidence of changing technologies and cultural shifts. Previous works have incorporated newspaper ash, defunct lightbulbs, VHS tapes, carbon paper, maps, and metal leaf—materials that carry traces of use, redundancy, and transition. These substances function not merely as materials but as repositories of cultural and personal histories. By reconfiguring them through labour-intensive processes, I examine how material transformation can generate new readings while maintaining a dialogue with the object's former life.
Lived Experience
Drawing is integral to my practice and operates as both a generative and investigative tool. It provides a space for experimentation and intuition allowing ideas to evolve independently as works in their own right while simultaneously informing the development of more sculptural lines of enquiry. Through drawing, I test relationships between form, scale, surface, and materiality, creating a continuous dialogue between two-dimensional and three-dimensional thinking.
My work ranges from large-scale installations to intimate sculptural objects. Regardless of scale, I seek to create encounters that reward sustained looking and invite contemplation. Through subtle material shifts and carefully constructed spatial relationships, the work encourages viewers to slow down and engage with its quiet complexities. Interested in the intersection of material presence and absence, permanence and impermanence, I aim to create works that provoke curiosity and reflection, drawing attention to overlooked histories, fragile states of being, and the passage of time that shapes both objects and experiences.
Jennifer Douglas: CV
Education
2003 - 2005 MFA Glasgow School of Art
1995 - 1999 BA (hons) Fine Art University of Newcastle upon Tyne
1998 -1999 Foundation in Art and Design, Buckinghamshire College, High Wycombe
Solo Exhibitions and Projects
2019 Solo presentation, Workplace Foundation, Gateshead, UK
2015 So, Workplace Gallery London, UK
2014 Solo presentation, The Manchester Contemporary, UK
2013 Jennifer Douglas, Workplace Gallery, Gateshead, UK
2012 Would you care for anything? Lime Street Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne
2010 The Short Score, Durham Light Infantry Museum, Durham, UK
2008 FANTASTICA, Grundy Art Gallery & Museum, Blackpool, UK
2007 The Wood Between the Worlds, Workplace Gallery, Gateshead, UK
2005 High Roller, Project Rooms, Glasgow, UK
Selected Group Exhibitions
2024
No Last Dance, Newcastle Contemporary Art, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Beyond the Goldmine Standard, Gallagher and Turner, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
2023
Hypha, Church of St John, Healey, Riding Mill, Northumberland, UK
2022
Slung Over the bones of a Collage, Gallery North/36 Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne
2019
Touching from a Distance, The Conduit, London, UK
2018
Have I been here before? Century Club, London, UK
2017
In and Out of Sight, UH Gallery Hertfordshire, UK
2016
Identify Your Limitations, Acknowledge the Periphery, Vitrine, London, UK
Object Relations, Baltic 39, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
2015
DOT DOT DOT DASH, Workplace Gallery, Gateshead, UK
Crab Walk, NGCA, Sunderland, UK
A Foreign Encounter, Galerie Foe, Munich, Germany
2014
Confusion in her eyes that says it all, Maria Stenfors, London, UK
Satellite Satellite, Workplace London, UK
2013
Tip of the Iceberg, Contemporary Art Society, London, UK
SURFACE, Gallery@The Civic, Barnsley, UK
Dallas Art Fair, Fashion Industry Gallery, Dallas, USA
2012
Out of Sight, Out of Mind, Workplace Gallery, Gateshead, UK
Salon Art Prize, Matt Roberts Arts, London, UK
Collecting Contemporary Art, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
2011
ROTATE, Contemporary Art Society & Shortlist Media, London
2010
The Manchester Contemporary, Manchester, UK
Northern Futures, The Civic, Barnsley, UK
2009
Business Network Collection, Coopers Building, Newcastle, UK
2008
TOMORROW THE FUTURE, Fishmarket Gallery, Northampton, UK
From Acanthus to Zebrawood, Cooper Gallery, University of Dundee
Past as Present, York Art Gallery, UK
2007
EMERGENCY3, Aspex Gallery, Portsmouth, UK
2006
You Shall Know Our Velocity, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK
2005
Zoo Art Fair, London with Workplace Gallery
Beijing/Glasgow, Museum of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing
Exit Strategy, Tramway, Glasgow, UK
The Space in-between the Sole and the Heel, Globe Gallery, North Shields, UK
Strange Currencies, Park Circus, Glasgow
2004
International Exchange Exhibition, Hunter College, New York
The Games we Play, Barcsay Sala, Budapest
2003
Space Between Us, SMART Project Space, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
2002
Ladies Only, Collect Gallery, Liverpool, UK
Capital, VANE, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
2000
Playing Fields, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Precedence, Discovery Museum, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
1999
VANE Export, Tensta Konsthall, Stockholm, Sweden
Rocket 2, VANE, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Towards the Millennium, Artsway, Hampshire, UK
Degree Show, Hatton Gallery, Newcastle, UK
Commissions & Projects
2012 Factory Nights, Rednile Project, Middlesbrough, UK
2009 Underland, RMJM Architects, Bishopbriggs, Glasgow, UK
2007 Jerwood Billboard Commission, Jerwood Space, London, UK
2004 Nimbus Concertina, Blue River Design, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
Residencies and Awards
2012 The Salon Art Prize
2010 Northern Futures Award
2007 Art Gene, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, UK
Arts Council England, Grants for the Arts Award.
2001 Fellowship, Northern Print Studio, North Shields, UK
2000 Artist in Residence, Laing Art Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK
1999 Fire in the Land, Scottish Sculpture Workshop, Aberdeenshire, UK
Collections
Government Art Collection
Simmons & Simmons, UK
Tyne and Wear Museums Collection, UK
The Lodeveans Collection, UK
Business Collectors Network Collection, UK
Currell Collection, UK
Private Collections, UK
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