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helyne jennings MA RCA - multi media artist
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Paper - Fabric - Thread
I feel I was destined to have some connection with textiles, my mother studied fashion at Trent College. She did not end up realising her career for long though, she got married, had a family and all of us followed my forces father to different postings around the world. Although she never regretted having her children she always wondered what she may have achieved if things had taken a different path. There it was...my cue.
I have not appreciated how influential she must have been on me, how often I pondered over her sample books and sketch pads. She taught me how to stitch, how to make collages out of remnants of fabric, how to embellish them with beads & buttons and how to navigate her industrial sewing machine. The seed was sewn.
I was made aware of textiles as a contemporary art form while completing my foundation art course in 1976. My tutor brought her sewing machine in and plonked it on my desk. I have been behind one ever since. I'm not sure I would have found this path without that very guiding hand and I'm very thankful as textiles is such an exciting and versatile medium.
Travel has been a major inspiration in early work during and after college years having travelled extensively throughout Egypt, South East Asia, Japan and Australasia, and in later years through trips to Europe. The land and seascapes where I live in Devon play their part in recent work trying to capture the transient ever changing light and mood of my surroundings.
Recently, due to the sobering circumstances brought about by the current Pandemic I have been revisiting old works and techniques that I had forgotten. This rekindling has led to an outburst of new works that have surprised and excited me, pulling me back into my love for the textile medium that I had begun to feel a little remote from. As a creative person it's not always clear how an idea or an image pop's into your head, it is not a respecter of time or place and can so easily be lost before it can be executed. I am not a person who spends hours drawing or designing, ideas are triggered through emotion, pieces rapidly evolve in my mind and I have to get them physically down on the canvas before they fade, it's almost like being guided and is quite urgent when it happens.
Work has been widely exhibited both at home and abroad. Solo and mixed shows have been undertaken in London, Singapore & Tokyo and other venues. Commissions have been created for Touche Ross, Calvin Klein, Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline, Sumitomo Corporation, P&O, Dorchester Abbey amongst many others.
Pieces are featured in many public and private collections such as the Craft Council London, Raffles City Singapore, Sumitomo Corporation Japan, HSBC Bank Hong Kong.
Full CV upon request
2021
New Wall Pieces, mixed media on paper and fabric
New Work
paper and fabric textile collage
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