Jenny Swindells

I am an MA graduate from Norwich University College of the Arts, course completed Art, Design and Education.  I have been working as a visual artist/lighting designer/maker of things/sometimes performer since 2003.  

“Desire for an idea is like bait.  When you’re fishing, you have to have patience.  
You bait your hook, and then you wait.  The desire is the bait that pulls those
fish in - those ideas.  The beautiful thing is that when you catch one fish that you 
love, even if it’s a little fish - a fragment of an idea - that fish will draw in other
fish, and they’ll hook onto it.  Then you’re on your way.  Soon there are more
and more and more fragments, and the whole thing emerges.  But it starts
with desire.”1(Lynch, 2006: 25)

It is not a requirement for all artists to live their art, but for some it is necessary.  In my recent practice I have found that living part of the work has become integral.  During the research process of my last two projects I assumed characters that represented the work.  I am interested in the multiple levels of personalities we all have within us and how these surface according to our surroundings or situations.  In a sense the characters I create for each project are elements of my own personality, each element is a reference to the mode and atmosphere the project.

I like to tell stories in my work and tend to use autobiographical devices such as journals and documentation.  Since 2007 I have taken pages from sketch books and diaries and translated these into embroideries.  For whatever reason this medium fits with the feel and atmosphere of the drawings and writing.  There is a performative quality to the execution of each piece which I felt needed to be taken further.

Violet Crowheart (2006 – present) is my main alter ego, she began as a stage name, though in the past two years I decided to develop her into a character I could ‘put on’ in difficult moments.  She is confident and is bold enough to behave however she likes.  I wanted to get a sense of her appearance so over six months I documented the process of gently changing myself into who I thought she was.  A series of art works were made by her and myself.

We Are The Spaces That I Am(2010) was my final show for the MA in Art, Design and Education I have recently completed at NorwichUniversityCollegeof the Arts.  This was a three tier piece encompassing research, action research, and an exhibition.  I was keen to find out more about socially-engaged practice as I am drawn to idea of establishing purpose and function within art.  My exploration into this mode of practice served as the research element of this work.  As action research I worked with Sweet Arts, an art group established specifically for women who come from backgrounds of domestic violence and abuse.  During my work there I collected stories and conversations from the women, which became the basis of the final work.  I made an installation, large pieces of blank fabric were attached to the space.  Over twenty-two days the fabric was embroidered and drawn upon.   A new character was established, this time she was blank and passive.  She moved around a space made of fabric, she wrote and stitched directly onto the walls.  The words and pictures were interpretations of the conversations with the women at Sweet Arts.