Jenny Alderson is an artist and arts educator based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
I work from a studio at The NewBridge Project, Shieldfield, and across a range of museums and galleries in Tyne & Wear. I am passionate about museum and gallery learning and art education, and I love working with people of all ages, alongside my own thinking and making.
In my practice, I enjoy using a combination of everyday and leftover materials, giving the same attention to the off-cuts as the cuts, and finding authority and beauty in the abstract shapes and materials left behind from processes such as dressmaking and building. Often the starting point for a piece is an off-cut from a previous work or the dress-making process, or a found shape from a bought or found object. I like to combine materials from different worlds, questioning and challenging the hierarchies and connotations associated with materials and their colours. I am interested in barriers, boundaries and the points at which things meet – be they materials, ideas or spaces; as well as the power of a subtle gesture or element, such as a raw edge, a pin only just holding something in place, or the division of a space by just a thin piece of fabric. My work often uses metaphor to explore alternative perspectives and multiple meanings, through perception, physical movement through and around a space, or language.
I have a particular interest in colour - specifically the ways in which human uses of and stereotypes around colour can expose biases and inequalities in society; and how the relativity of colour, as well as the difficulty in defining and categorising it, can be seen as a metaphor for aspects of human experience.
Over the last few years I have been learning how to make my own clothes - this process has informed my art practice and the two feel closely interlinked. Recently I have been thinking about the connection between the clothes we wear and home - clothing as architecture, as a home for the body, the creating of space, but also the necessity of both clothing and of home/shelter; the connection both have to the exploitation of people; and the self-expression and belonging which both have the potential to, but don't always, allow.
I run a fortnightly mending and sewing group at The NewBridge Project called Meet & Mend - a space for sharing techniques to extend the lifespan of our clothes & other textiles, as a rejection of exploitative, unsustainable fast fashion.
In my museum and gallery roles and as a freelance artist, I lead regular art workshops for Home Educated children and their families at the Hatton Gallery; teach on Explore Lifelong Learning's Art & Art History course; lead gallery and museum tours and workshops for school groups and family audiences at the Hatton Gallery, the Shipley Art Gallery and Segedunum Roman Fort; lead drop-in sewing sessions - Baltic Sewing Bees, exhibition tours and chat to visitors of all ages about contemporary art at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, help out at community events such as Coffee Mornings and Saturday Socials at The NewBridge Project, and create bespoke workshops for groups with Baltic as a freelance artist.
I also take on sewing, mending and making commissions - please get in touch via my contact page if you would like to ask me about a commission.
I work from a studio at The NewBridge Project, Shieldfield, and across a range of museums and galleries in Tyne & Wear. I am passionate about museum and gallery learning and art education, and I love working with people of all ages, alongside my own thinking and making.
In my practice, I enjoy using a combination of everyday and leftover materials, giving the same attention to the off-cuts as the cuts, and finding authority and beauty in the abstract shapes and materials left behind from processes such as dressmaking and building. Often the starting point for a piece is an off-cut from a previous work or the dress-making process, or a found shape from a bought or found object. I like to combine materials from different worlds, questioning and challenging the hierarchies and connotations associated with materials and their colours. I am interested in barriers, boundaries and the points at which things meet – be they materials, ideas or spaces; as well as the power of a subtle gesture or element, such as a raw edge, a pin only just holding something in place, or the division of a space by just a thin piece of fabric. My work often uses metaphor to explore alternative perspectives and multiple meanings, through perception, physical movement through and around a space, or language.
I have a particular interest in colour - specifically the ways in which human uses of and stereotypes around colour can expose biases and inequalities in society; and how the relativity of colour, as well as the difficulty in defining and categorising it, can be seen as a metaphor for aspects of human experience.
Over the last few years I have been learning how to make my own clothes - this process has informed my art practice and the two feel closely interlinked. Recently I have been thinking about the connection between the clothes we wear and home - clothing as architecture, as a home for the body, the creating of space, but also the necessity of both clothing and of home/shelter; the connection both have to the exploitation of people; and the self-expression and belonging which both have the potential to, but don't always, allow.
I run a fortnightly mending and sewing group at The NewBridge Project called Meet & Mend - a space for sharing techniques to extend the lifespan of our clothes & other textiles, as a rejection of exploitative, unsustainable fast fashion.
In my museum and gallery roles and as a freelance artist, I lead regular art workshops for Home Educated children and their families at the Hatton Gallery; teach on Explore Lifelong Learning's Art & Art History course; lead gallery and museum tours and workshops for school groups and family audiences at the Hatton Gallery, the Shipley Art Gallery and Segedunum Roman Fort; lead drop-in sewing sessions - Baltic Sewing Bees, exhibition tours and chat to visitors of all ages about contemporary art at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, help out at community events such as Coffee Mornings and Saturday Socials at The NewBridge Project, and create bespoke workshops for groups with Baltic as a freelance artist.
I also take on sewing, mending and making commissions - please get in touch via my contact page if you would like to ask me about a commission.