Kelly Jenkins

I create vibrant and tactile, abstract paintings that marry together highly detailed embroidery with fine art painting techniques.

Strong and free, unique and spontaneous, elegant and anarchic, this is the message I hope to convey in my work. Playful, organic forms, harmonious yet bold colours, are stitched into with dynamic embroidery compositions, that are stripped back to just a pure line, stroke, splatter or scribble - the basic, fundamental acts of mark making; spontaneous and intuitive. Recreated in stitch they become considered and premeditated.

I’m inspired by everyday life stuff; Snippets of conversations, lyrics from songs, memories of people and places I’ve been. They all reflect notions of impulse, chance, spontaneity and emotion; I aim to document or capture a fleeting glimpse of these through paint and embroidery; a continuous thread running through my work is to live in the moment.

My contemporary painting style draws loose inspiration from the drama and light of Impressionism and Romanticism, to the decorative curves, scrolls, colours and sensuality of Rococo Art, combined with elements of graffiti and notions of erosion and vandalism. The impetus for my embroidery is fuelled by my love of texture and s...

Master of Arts; Textiles. Royal College of Art, London. 2004
1st Class B.A. (Hons); Contemporary Textiles. West Wales School of The Arts. Wales. 2002
H.N.D. Distinction; Advanced Art & Design. West Wales School of The Arts. Wales.1999

AWARDS:
Secret Art Prize - Finalist of 2018
Garrards Fashion & Interior Luxury Product Award, 2004. John Lewis Interiors, Postgraduate Competition, 2003.
The Lucienne Day Award, New Designers, London.2001
Student of the Year Award, West Wales School of Arts. 2001.

Infinity Rooms at Bankside Hotel London with Degree Art Gallery and Contemporary Collective.

Royal Arts Prize 2020 - 20th - 29th February.
La Galleria Pall Mall, London


Past 2019 Exhibitions:
Roys Art Fair 3-6th October 2019. The Truman Brewery, London.

Curious Duke Gallery - Summer Exhibition. 2019.

Curious Duke Gallery - July Group Exhibition. 2019.

Curious Duke Gallery - March Group Exhibition. 2019.

_____

Previous major exhibitions include:
Knit 2 Together with the Craft Council, London (2005), Strikk 7 at the West Norway Museum of Decorative Art (2007) and Knitted Worlds at the Audax Textile Museum in the Netherlands (2008). Kelly was invited to hold her first solo show in 2005 at The Livingstone Studio, London NW3, with a conceptual textile exhibition called “Translating Emotions”. In 2012 she was invited to hold another solo show ‘Paint With Thread’ at The Watford Museum Gallery, London.