Jenny Purrett
Descartes talked about the eyes as tools for feeling the tactile textures of the world and for Jenny Purrett, drawing is about 'touching with the eyes.' The physicality of the produced mark as well as the idea that this mark is a kind of contact between artist and subject is central to her work.
Drawing is fundamental to her practice. She uses it to attempt to pin down that which cannot be pinned down. Aware that it is an activity which both separates and connects us to the things that surround us, she uses drawing as a record of seeing and of being: a shared existence in time and space between herself and her surroundings.
This desire for connectedness is what links her drawing and installation work. Interested in the inter-relationship of culture and nature, people and their environment, many of Jenny's installations are affected by viewers' interaction and will only last for the duration of an exhibition. 'The work's assimilation back into the environment is fundamental to its meaning, as a reminder that seasons and opportunities pass. I enjoy watching how a piece evolves once it has been handed over to the audience. I want people to have a visceral response to my work rather than a purely cerebral or visual one.'
Qualifications and training
2009 - MA Fine Art, Bath Spa University, Bath
1998 - Post Graduate Certificate of Education, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh
1994 - BA Fine Art, University of Central England, Birmingham
Solo exhibitions
2018 Of the Earth Solo exhibition, Research Cases, The National Glass Centre, Sunderland
2017 Assembled Installation, Assembly House, Newcastle
2016 Making Sense Customs House, South Shields
2013 -Touching with the Eyes, Customs House Gallery, South Shields
2012 - Woolgathering, RSPB Geltsdale, Cumbria
2011 - Cumulation, Visual Arts in Rural Communities, Highgreen, Highreen, Tarset
2010 - Passing Time, Black Swan Arts, Frome
Group exhibitions
2015 Where is the line? The Granary Gallery, North Berwick
2015 North Group show, The World of Glass, St Helens
2015 Paper Group Show, Salisbury Arts Centre
2014 - dRAW, Black Swan Arts, Frome
2013 - Unique Drawings, One Church Street Gallery, Great Missenden
2010 - Here Today Gone Tomorrow, Fringe Arts Bath
2009 - Bristol Print Show, View Gallery, Bristol
2009 - Drawn In, Sidcot Arts Centre, Sidcot
2009 - MFA Show, Bath Spa University, Bath
2009 - The Old Curiosity Shop, Walcot Street, Bath
Projects & Residencies
2017 aa2a Artist in Residence, Sunderland University.
2016 Making Sense Drawing project with Sight Service, South Shields
2015 Exploring Drawing Collaborative drawing project working with Sangini women's group at VARC, Highgreen, Northumberland
2015 Where is the line? Drawing residency at North Berwick Arts.
2011-2012 Northumbria University AA2A
2011 - Response: a rural-urban conversation , Collaboration between VARC and Newbridge Project, Highgreen, Northumberland/ Eldon Square, Newcastle
2010 - 2011 Visual Arts in Rural Communities, Northumberland