JENNI DUTTON

The imagery of Jenni Dutton is extraordinary. Her oeuvre includes a surreal collection of life size un-wearable ‘dresses’. These are made from unexpected materials – e.g. feathers, leaves, hair – and seemingly take on aspects of the body once inside them. ‘A Walk in the Woods’ records a walking experience, the dress made up from flora and fauna found on the wood floor.

A series of shoes extends the ‘collection’, almost acting as accessories. Some are straight forward while others are built around particular narratives. A story surrounds ‘ Sheba ’s Shoe’, that of the Queen of Sheba, the famous beauty who is reputed to have had a deformed, webbed foot said to resemble that of a goose.

Dutton’s most recent work is collaged mosaic figures, torsos that are not only a visual feast but at times challenging. Using smashed pieces of crockery and figurines, each torso has a clearly distinct character and eye for detail.

Jenni Dutton trained as a painter at St Martins and Byam Shaw in London , but moved on to make large wire and paper wrapped figures that developed into today’s ‘dresses’. Her work has been exhibited in public galleries in Taunton and Bath . Dutton was one of eight UK artists featured in a 2004 BBC2 Series ‘Contemporary Visions’.

Selected biography
Lives and works in Somerset

Education
1968-69 St. Martins School of Art Foundation Course.
1969-73 Byam Shaw School of Art Diploma in Fine Art.
1973-74 Certificate in Education, Whitelands College of Education.
1995-96 Introduction to Art Therapy, Exeter University .
1997-04 Masters of Arts, University of Plymouth .

Exhibitions
1994 'My Place', Brewhouse Theatre and Arts Centre, Taunton , Somerset .
1995 'Tree of Life', Brewhouse Theatre and Art Centre, Taunton
1995 Taunton Open Drawing Competition, Somerset .
1996 ‘Images of Women’, Art for Life, Musgrove Park Hospital , Taunton
1999 Henley Arts and Music Festival, Oxfordshire.
1999 Solo show, Phillips Gallery, Brewhouse Theatre, Taunton
2000 Somerset Now: 'Enclosed Memory', County Museum , Taunton .
2001 Commission for Mulberry Store. New Bond Street , London .
2001 Over the Hill, Studio group show, Thelma Hubert Gallery , Honiton.
2001 Fashion Festival, Intervention,The Arches Glasgow
2001 ‘Inspirations’,The American Museum , Bath .
2001 Somerset Arts Week, Flying Colours, Burning the Flagship.
2002 People & the Changing Landscape, Brewhouse Art Centre, Taunton
2003 Quilt Bonanza The American Museum , Bath .
2004 ‘Footsteps’, touring exhibition, Walford Mill, Wimborne, Dorset
2004 Hurstone Studios, Somerset Art Week
2005 ‘Fantasy Shoes’, Gateway College , Shrewsbury Quartz, Queens College , Taunton
2005 ‘Intimate Space’, CUBE3, University of Plymouth
2006 ‘Traces’ (with Susie Needham & Mark Karasick) at ART2006, Business Design Centre, London , with Bertram Enterprises.
2006 Affordable Art Fair, London , with Bertram Enterprises

Residences/Workshops
Visiting lecturer at Bath Spa University , Bath
2002 Debenhams Department Store, Taunton , Somerset Arts Week.
2003 Memory Wall hangings, American Museum , Bath .
2005-06 ‘Moving On’, Artists on Trains, Wessex Trains (with SAW Ltd)
2006 ‘Self-Centred’, Artsreach, Dorset

Publicity

September 2000 Somerset Arts Week Catalogue (front cover).
November 2000 Gardens Illustrated.
March 2001 Catalogue, “Inspirations”, The American Museum in Britain.
April 2001 Elle
August 1 2001 Interview with Wayne Hemingway, The Big Breakfast, Channel 4.
March/April 2002 Decode - Arts and creative culture magazine, Issue no.1
July 2002 HTV In the Making - Artists who use memories as a subject.
December 2004 BBC2 “Contemporary Visions”
May 2004 “Footsteps” Exhibition Catalogue