CPRA Grant

CPRA Long Banner

I’m so pleased to have been awarded a grant by the University of Central Lancashire’s research group, CPRA,  The Creative Practice Research Academy.

I will produce a body of work comprising screen prints and artist books. These will explore the impact of heightened sensory processing on women’s identity and how this affects their access to, and emersion in, the public sphere.

My work is visual elicitation, sparking conversations around dis/ability, public access, and gender. I am currently initiating conversations with autistic women on their experiences of ‘otherness’ in social spaces via my social media platforms. This discourse is informing and directs the aesthetics of the prints as well as the direction of the project. By utilising social media, I am opening the discourse to a wider audience. Posing open questions on the accessibility and the role of visual language in research.

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Perceptions

Of Distance, Artist Book, Perceptions Exhibition Exhibition opening night at the PR1 Gallery

An exhibition by technicians ‘Perceptions’ at the PR1 Gallery.

‘Perceptions’, an exhibition by University of Central Lancashire technicians, opened on the 20th September 2019 in UCLan’s PR1 Gallery.

Curated by darkroom specialist Joanna Garrett, the exhibition highlights works by the University’s Creative Industries Support Technicians.

It has been a great experience showing previously unseen works along with my new book series ‘The Gaps Between‘. New works include screen prints made using MRI data from recent scans at the Center for Neuroimaging Sciences at King’s College London. (Read more about that here.)

Other works include a print from my series ‘Location Adrift‘ an experimental darkroom project. Through this project, I am exploring feelings of disorientation and dissociation that occur whilst in liminal places.

UCLan's Art Gallery Exhibition opening night at the PR1 Gallery
The Gaps Between Book Display

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North

Seeking Identity Close up

I feel so privileged to be mentioned in Volume 4 of ‘North’ as part of Jo Garrett’s wonderful interview on the darkroom.

North Magazine, Volume 4 featuring Jane Elizabeth Bennett and Jo Garrett
North Magazine, Volume 4 Jo Garrett’s Interview featuring Jane Elizabeth Bennett

I love the way that Jo talks about the magic of the darkroom, the physical interactions between chemistry and light, it is alchemy and I adore it. I think it is so easy to disassociate the physicality of making work from the final outcome which often ends up, framed and pristine, on a white wall.

When I’m working in the darkroom with Jo, I can relax. We often discuss the crossovers and co-dependencies of printmaking and photography. How each process informs, shapes and directs the evolution of the other, while still remaining very separate artforms.

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‘Masters’ at Artlab

Creative Letterpress with David Armes at Artlab CPS 2018, Masters

Artlab Contemporary Printmaking Studio has recently run a series of three masterclasses in Printmaking entitled ‘Masters’.

I have been looking forward to the ‘Masters’ masterclasses for some time. Anyone that knows me well will know how much I love to ‘upskill’. The ‘Masterclasses’ were a great opportunity to network with some very experienced artists and expand my own knowledge.

Bronwen Sleigh’s Two Plate Softground Masterclass

Sleigh’s research and portfolio are extensive, and her workshop was as enjoyable as it was informative. The aim of the workshop was to explore methods of drawing a composite image over two soft-ground plates and then correctly register them to print on the star wheel press.

Two Plate Etching with Bronwin Sleigh, Drawing Studio, Artlab 2018
Two Plate Etching with Bronwin Sleigh, Drawing Studio, Artlab 2018

The group prepared each plate, de-greasing and coating them with a traditional softground wax, once the plates had been prepared they were etched in copper-sulphate and cleaned in preparation for inking and printing.

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