Jenni Robinson

I am an artist-mother.  Printmaking and painting, I document place-making and process the shift in identity and opportunities that come with parenthood. 

My work usually starts in sketchbooks, with copper etching and screen print providing a reproducible, editable format in which to develop ideas.  

Previously described as a landscape artist, after my son arrived I found the sketchbooks filled not so much with landscapes but with “places” and ephemera contained therein such as toys, significant furniture, etc.  The resulting drawings and prints are often playful and illustrative of places, values and events important to our family.

I also create large, soak stain studio paintings in acrylic on canvas, after becoming fascinated with the work of Helen Frankenthaler.  I enjoy the parallel between these materials, and the emotional challenges that come with such a big change in identity. These paintings have come to express my processing of parenthood;  limited control of the paint, drenching and assimilating with the canvas fibres, maintaining the surface’s softness despite all that is added.  I am also forced to leave work unfinished and return another day as they dry, often fitting in with limited studio time as other priorities need me.  These paintings allow me to pause and reflect on myself, with emotions and reactions to events translated in scale and colour.

The drawings, prints and paintings are fragments that have emerged over the pre-school years.  They waited for me to assemble them into a related practice and this is what I strive to develop as we enter the school years and a more studio-friendly routine.

Life has been a bit of a rollercoaster so far!  I moved from Scotland to Northern Ireland in 2006 after graduating from my degree in biological sciences.  Finding an unexpected career in events and business management, I couldn't keep the frustrated artist down and had a part-time side-hustle making pet portraits.

Unfortunately widowed suddenly in 2015, I took the opportunity to work towards being a full-time artist, switching to my real love of painting landscapes.  This evolved to “places” when I found myself unable to maintain full time commercial work since my wee boy came along in 2021, pivoting my practice to where it sits today.