How Art Shapes Our Cities | Jeanette Barnes (Visual Artist, Educator)
Jeanette Barnes on this week's episode of the How Might We Sessions on telling the story of our developing cities through art
After completing a Fine Art degree at Liverpool Polytechnic, Jeanette Barnes studied Fine Art at the Royal Academy Schools and Printmaking at the Royal College of Art. For the past twenty-five years she has worked on large energetic drawings of the urban landscape. Jeanette has exhibited in many group and solo shows including several times at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition and Jerwood Drawing Prize Exhibition and has work in many corporate and private collections. She has been awarded various scholarships and prizes, most recently the Hugh Casson Drawing Prize at the 2013 RA Summer exhibition. Jeanette has taught at the Royal Drawing School for a number of years and has been a tutor on the Royal Academy Outreach Programme for over twenty years.
“Drawing is the entirety of my practice, whether drawing on a large scale at the studio, sketching outside or scraping on an etching or dry point plate. My work engages with the constant development within the urban environment. I am fascinated by the way vast architectural projects are changing the nature and demography of given areas. I seek to explore the relationship between these built environments and those who inhabit them, sometimes figures are of central importance or of implied presence. I like to use their movement as a metaphor for energy within the city and passage of time. The large pieces take many months, changing and developing, content evolving and surprising conclusions being made.”
🔹 Discover Jeanette Barnes’s work here
🔹 Follow Jeanette Barnes on Instagram here
🔹 This podcast was recorded at Trowbridge Talks at Trowbridge Gardens a multi-use space by Arbeit. Find out more here
Lightning Round Questions
What are two of the most important books in your life?
Just books. Just the way that books open up other worlds.
Who was the last musician or album that truly blew you away?
Etta James or Billie Holiday
What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
Photography
What piece of advice has had the most lasting impact on you?
You’ve got to take people as you find them. Don’t judge. Treat people like as you want to be treated.
What piece of advice would you give to the next generation forming their path?
Don’t be too worry if you're not going a conventional route to something. There are so many twists and turns. These days there will be different opportunities to what I add. If you want your dream or you want you goal, keep on that path.
Aside from resources such as money and staff, what is the single biggest thing your industry needs more of?
People to realise how important creative is to us all.