I am an artist and arts educator from the North East of Scotland, currently based in Glasgow. I have a multidisciplinary practice comprised of sculpture, illustration, photography and installation. My work looks at the natural world and geological time in relation to changing environments, and highlights interconnected systems throughout the natural world, nd in relation to local and global communities.
I am interested in how we can draw inspiration from the natural world for a more sustainable future, creating closed cycles of resource management, more durable structures in the built environment, and mutually adaptive communities that work together, on a local and global basis, as we face environmental challenges.
Through photography I document changing environments, focusing on geothermal, ecological, geological, and glaciological areas of scientific interest, as well as sites rich in biodiversity. I creates meticulous hyper-detailed illustrations of geological and botanical formations, capturing the complexity of natural structures. My sculptures highlight the bare frameworks of dynamic and resilient natural forms, examples of strength and durability, and interdependent systems and communities that support life.
I host workshops with arts organisations, schools, community groups, students and charities, particularly ones who support young people, to develop creative skills, confidence in skill-sharing, and working collectively as part of a group. Her workshops focus on the natural environment, climate change, sculpture, illustration, design, and large-scale live-build installations to create urban sanctuaries and green spaces. The workshops facilitate discussion in relation to environmental issues and bridge areas of expertise.
I was recently awarded the JD Ferguson Arts Award Trust Travel Award for a research and documentary trip to sites of geological, botanical, ecological, glaciological and geothermal interest in New Zealand, a commendation award for a sanctuary space in Glasgow from the Glasgow Institute of Architects, the Deutsche Bank Award for Creative Enterprise, and took part in Pick Me Up Selects at Somerset House in London. I am currently working with marine biologists from Strathclyde University, to highlight changes across the migratory routes and food chains of marine species in the Arctic Ocean due to climate change, and studying Environmental Science in tandem with my creative practice.
For more info, to organise a workshop, or request a commission, please email: jennifera@btinternet.com
My work explores an amalgamation of natural systems, while using the patterns that exist in the physical universe as a metaphor for community.
I create illustrative studies, sculptures, installations and photographs depicting patterns that exist across natural systems, from molecules and microorganisms up to macro geological processes and universal dynamics. My work highlights that nature is connected, that systems, from our own physical, chemical and biological processes, to interconnected species, migratory routes, food chains, ecosystems and communities, and geological processes, and the water, carbon and nitrogen cycles that make life on our planet possible, are all connected and interdependent. From our daily habits to extensive geological time frames, we are always part of, connected to, and contributing to broader natural systems.
I use graphite to draw with as it is a soft crystalite form of carbon, which is a universal material; we are made of carbon (it is the second most abundant chemical element we are composed of after oxygen), as are geological, botanical, biological and organic phenomenon across the planet. Carbon is universal, and it has existed for the longest geological time frame we know of, since the Big Bang, and potentially prior to that. Carbon connects everything, and my drawings made using carbon and documenting universal patterns, highlight that everything is connected; we are just one part of a much broader context of space, time and natural phenomenon.
I notice these patterns throughout different environments, systems, processes and formations, from molecular structures to our own physical, biological, chemical, geological and nervous systems of the human body, the vascular systems of leaves and plants, to local and international ecological systems, to geological processes that take place over millennia, up to planetary spatial dynamics, and the cosmic microwave radiation background - a remnant of the Big Bang that can still be seen today. I see these interconnected patterns and dynamics and think that it is beautiful that everything is connected, and that we are just one miniscule part of a much bigger system and time scale.
"The Earth is 4.5 billion years old, and modern humans have been around for around a mere 200,000 years. Yet in that time we have fundamentally altered the physical, chemical and biological systems of the planet on which we and all other organisms depend.
In the past 60 years in particular, these human impacts have unfolded at an unprecedented rate and scale. This period is sometimes known as the Great Acceleration. Carbon dioxide emissions, global warming, ocean acidification, habitat destruction, extinction and widescale natural resource extraction are all signs that we have significantly modified our planet." - Natural History Museum - What is the Anthropocene?
I think that we should try not to damage, or irreversibly knock the carbon, nitrogen and water cycles of our planet out of balance, so that life can be sustained on this planet, and ecosystems can have time to recover, in the little time that we are individually and collectively a part of them as a species, and hopefully much further into the future.
I am interested in how we can draw inspiration from the natural world for a more sustainable future, creating closed cycles of resource management, more durable structures in the built environment, and mutually adaptive communities that work together, on a local and global basis, as we face environmental challenges.
Through photography I document changing environments, focusing on geothermal, ecological, geological, and glaciological areas of scientific interest, as well as sites rich in biodiversity. I creates meticulous hyper-detailed illustrations of geological and botanical formations, capturing the complexity of natural structures. My sculptures highlight the bare frameworks of dynamic and resilient natural forms, examples of strength and durability, and interdependent systems and communities that support life.
I host workshops with arts organisations, schools, community groups, students and charities, particularly ones who support young people, to develop creative skills, confidence in skill-sharing, and working collectively as part of a group. Her workshops focus on the natural environment, climate change, sculpture, illustration, design, and large-scale live-build installations to create urban sanctuaries and green spaces. The workshops facilitate discussion in relation to environmental issues and bridge areas of expertise.
I was recently awarded the JD Ferguson Arts Award Trust Travel Award for a research and documentary trip to sites of geological, botanical, ecological, glaciological and geothermal interest in New Zealand, a commendation award for a sanctuary space in Glasgow from the Glasgow Institute of Architects, the Deutsche Bank Award for Creative Enterprise, and took part in Pick Me Up Selects at Somerset House in London. I am currently working with marine biologists from Strathclyde University, to highlight changes across the migratory routes and food chains of marine species in the Arctic Ocean due to climate change, and studying Environmental Science in tandem with my creative practice.
For more info, to organise a workshop, or request a commission, please email: jennifera@btinternet.com
My work explores an amalgamation of natural systems, while using the patterns that exist in the physical universe as a metaphor for community.
I create illustrative studies, sculptures, installations and photographs depicting patterns that exist across natural systems, from molecules and microorganisms up to macro geological processes and universal dynamics. My work highlights that nature is connected, that systems, from our own physical, chemical and biological processes, to interconnected species, migratory routes, food chains, ecosystems and communities, and geological processes, and the water, carbon and nitrogen cycles that make life on our planet possible, are all connected and interdependent. From our daily habits to extensive geological time frames, we are always part of, connected to, and contributing to broader natural systems.
I use graphite to draw with as it is a soft crystalite form of carbon, which is a universal material; we are made of carbon (it is the second most abundant chemical element we are composed of after oxygen), as are geological, botanical, biological and organic phenomenon across the planet. Carbon is universal, and it has existed for the longest geological time frame we know of, since the Big Bang, and potentially prior to that. Carbon connects everything, and my drawings made using carbon and documenting universal patterns, highlight that everything is connected; we are just one part of a much broader context of space, time and natural phenomenon.
I notice these patterns throughout different environments, systems, processes and formations, from molecular structures to our own physical, biological, chemical, geological and nervous systems of the human body, the vascular systems of leaves and plants, to local and international ecological systems, to geological processes that take place over millennia, up to planetary spatial dynamics, and the cosmic microwave radiation background - a remnant of the Big Bang that can still be seen today. I see these interconnected patterns and dynamics and think that it is beautiful that everything is connected, and that we are just one miniscule part of a much bigger system and time scale.
"The Earth is 4.5 billion years old, and modern humans have been around for around a mere 200,000 years. Yet in that time we have fundamentally altered the physical, chemical and biological systems of the planet on which we and all other organisms depend.
In the past 60 years in particular, these human impacts have unfolded at an unprecedented rate and scale. This period is sometimes known as the Great Acceleration. Carbon dioxide emissions, global warming, ocean acidification, habitat destruction, extinction and widescale natural resource extraction are all signs that we have significantly modified our planet." - Natural History Museum - What is the Anthropocene?
I think that we should try not to damage, or irreversibly knock the carbon, nitrogen and water cycles of our planet out of balance, so that life can be sustained on this planet, and ecosystems can have time to recover, in the little time that we are individually and collectively a part of them as a species, and hopefully much further into the future.
