jess bugler
I use the concepts and language of printmaking to conjure worlds and interrogate predicaments, with outcomes often in the form of sculptures and installations. My embodied practice is an act of exposure, an attempt to capture something elusive, to do as Louise Bourgeois suggests and “physicalize the problem.”
I created two installations Forest Ghosts and Forest Books for an Arts Council England project about the nature of aloneness. The pieces stood in contrast to each other, one dark with chaotic disquiet, the other fragile with airy impermanence. Writer, Rachel Cusk, talks about the ‘gift and burden’ of being alone. This dichotomy is mirrored in these pieces.
More recently, my work has been about Ymyl Y Tir / Edge of Land. Here, I observe both sea and rock fold, which contributes to the “stuff” of their trysting and its peculiar vitality and affect. Thus, I embrace the language of folding, the texture of carborundum grit and the resistance of wax to speak to this essential meeting of differences. This exploration of the forces of the non human world offering a chance to step outside ourselves, see beyond ourselves.
I was awarded The Hawthorn Prize in the Flourish Awards for Excellence in Printmaking in 2024. I have exhibited across the UK with grants from Arts Council England and Wales.
JESS BUGLER
AWARDS
Hawthorn Prize, Flourish Award for Excellence in Printmaking, 2024.
Elected as member of the Royal Cambrian Academy, 2021.
Winner of Herefordshire Art Week 2021
Winner of the Intaglio Printmakers prize, National Original Print Exhibition, 2018.
Winner of Peter Reddick Relief Printing Bursary, Spike Print Studio, Bristol, 2017.
Winner of the Hawthorn prize at the Flourish Award, West Yorkshire Print Studio, 2017.
Prize winner in Galeri Open, Caernarfon, Wales, 2017.
Winner of the Printmaking Today prize at the National Original Print exhibition 2014
Winner of the Regional Print Centre award at the National Original Print exhibition 2014 www.regionalprintcentre.co.uk Shortlisted for the Printmaking Today prize at the International Print Biennale, Newcastle www.printmakingtoday.co.uk
Winner of the “People’s Choice” award in “FRESHLY PRESSED” The Printmakers Council exhibition, London, 2014. www.printmakerscouncil.com
RESIDENCIES/SYMPOSIUMS/TALKS
Residency and Online Artist Talk - West Yorkshire Print Workshop. 2024
Speaker on Reflective Panel at IMPACT 12 - International Printmaking Conference 2022
Keynote Speaker at The Print Symposium 2020 - The expanded field of Printmaking.
Peter Reddick Bursary Award residency, Spike Print Studio, Bristol. 2017-18.
Stwidio Maelor residency - Machynlleth, Wales, 2017.
PUBLICITY
Cloudscape in Printmaking Today 2023
Features in Printmaking Today, 2021.
EXHIBITIONS
2025
Ymyl Y Tir / Edge of Land - Royal Cambrian Academy, Conwy.
2024
The Flourish Award for Excellence in Printmaking, Huddersfield, Salford and Scunthorpe.
2023
Project Babel - Galleria Ratamo (Jyväskylä, Finland)
ALONE TOGETHER, Oriel Mon, North Wales
ALONE TOGETHER, MAKE Southwest, Devon
ALONE TOGETHER, Canwood Gallery, Herefordshire.
Contemporary Printmaking Prize Exhibition, Fenditton Gallery, Fenditton, Cambridgeshire.
2022
Enclosures, Haymakers Gallery, Hay-on-wye, Wales.
ALONE TOGETHER, Centrespace, Bristol as part of IMPACT 12.
Exposition Internationale D’Estampes Contemporaines - Artplus, Perigieux, France.
New Members Exhibition, Royal Cambrian Academy, Conwy.
Paper After All, touring Royal Cambrian Academy, Conwy; Paper, Manchester and Saul Hay Gallery, Manchester.
The Pull of the Print, Printmakers Council Exhibition, Linden Hall Studio, Kent
2021
Print International 2021, Ty Pawb, Wrexham.
H-art winners exhibition, Old Mayor's Parlour, Hereford
Unprecedented, OVADA, Oxford.
2019
AR DROWTHY / BRINK - Oriel Mon, Anglesey, North Wales.
Print International 2019 - Ty Pawb, Wrexham, North Wales
Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair 2019, London.
2018
· Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, London.
· SHARP LINES, Peter Reddick Bursary solo exhibition, Spike Island Print, Bristol.
· National Original Print Exhibition, Bankside, London.
· MEMORY STATES, solo exhibition, The Courtyard, Hereford, England.
· Spike Print Open Studios, Bristol, England.
2017
· EDGE, Art and Technology, Pontio, Bangor, Wales.
· Flourish Award, West Yorkshire Print Studio, Mirfield, England.
· Galeri Open Exhibition, Caernarfon, Wales.
· “Noise of Our Time” Pontio Arts Centre. Bangor University. Wales.
· Printmaker’s Council. Scarborough Museum and Art Gallery.
2016
• IMPRESS' 16 Printmaking Festival. Gloucester. March 2016.
2015
• The Royal West of England Academy 163rd Annual Open Exhibition, Bristol.
• The Masters - Relief Prints, The Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers, Bankside Gallery, London. November 2015. www.re-printmakers.com
• 50 years of Artists Prints, The Printmakers Council, Bankside Gallery, London. November 2015. www.printmakerscouncil.com
• Caffi Celf, Oriel Mostyn, Llandudno, Wales. April - July 2015
2014
· Neo:Printprize 2014, gallery 22, the market place, Bolton, 28th August - 2nd November www.neoartists.co.uk
• National Original Print Exhibition, Bankside Gallery, London. 16th-26th September 2014. www.nationalprint.org
• International Print Biennale, Newcastle, England. www.internationalprintbiennale.org.uk/artists/jess-bugler
PUBLICATIONS
Review of Ar Drothwy/Brink in https://www.walesartsreview.org/exhibition-brink-at-oriel-mon/
Feature in THE PRINTMAKERS COUNCIL at 50 book, 2016
Interview in PRINTMAKING TODAY, 2015.
Article on lino print technique in PRINTMAKING TODAY, 2014
CURATION
2017
· EDGE, Art and Technology, Pontio, Bangor, Wales
TEACHING
• HE Print Workshop leader, Hereford College of Art, 2017 to current day.
• Tutor Printmaking for Certificate Fine Art, Bangor University - 2016
• Workshops including those at Hereford College of Art, The Regional Print Centre,Wrexham and Anglesey Arts Forum.
EDUCATION
• 1st Class BA Honours Fine Art – Bangor University, 2017
• Professional Graduate Certificate in Education University of South Wales. 2018
Helping Artists Keep Going
Axis is an artist-led charity supporting contemporary visual artists with resources, connection, and visibility.