Jane Spence
Paintings Drawings Prints
01 about
I am interested in creating intriguing spaces where tales can unfold or mood and atmosphere can be felt. I generally work in oils or mixed media, overlaying marks and colour, sometimes integrating collage to create texture and interest. This fascination with drama, storytelling and performance continues to inform my work.
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I have recently graduated with distinction in MA in Painting at Coventry University. This is building on my previous BA Hons in Theatre Design and has led me to work in large scale. I am developing new work out of a cache of found images spanning many decades, and which I keep by me to conjure a sense of the strange, the uncanny. Accepted reality skewed.
Figures I am drawn to are hard to assign. They are androgynous and have something of the Fae about them. They are the flash in the corner of our eye, an image not quite registered, the shadow that flickers behind a half closed door.
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I have lived in Brunei Darussalam and Kazakhstan, exhibiting in Brunei, Malaysia and the UK, and have travelled extensively around South East Asia.
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Please don't hesitate to contact me if you are interested in my work, or would simply like to know more about my practice. I am also happy to discuss commissions.
02 portfolio
03 exhibitions and projects
MA Painting
2020 - 2022
I pursued an enquiry into 'mysterious territories' - the Mind's internal worlds. I am questioning perceived truth, the inaccuracy of memory, and reality as a construct.
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I was seeking the elusive space between conscious and unconscious, between absence and presence, the internal places we wander when the tenuous thread of sanity breaks.
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Projects:
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2022
Hope I was invited, with 19 other artists, to respond to a sound piece called Hope Central and to exhibit at General Office gallery, Stourbridge.
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2019/20
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poArtry A three-month project based on collaboration between pairs of visual artists and poets, resulting in new work and an exhibition.
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2018/19
FacetoFace A year-long project bringing 30 artists together in six streams, responding to the theme of Penda, last pagan king of England. A supporting publication was produced and the final works were toured.
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2017
Jazz Geometries
A two-month project making experimental responses combining environment and music.
Exhibitions/competitions:
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2023
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20.03. Two works longlisted for Jacksons Painting Prize
2021/22
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16-30.10 Hope project, General Office Gallery, Stourbridge
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11-30.10 Wet Paint show by 6 MA graduates, LTB Gallery, Coventry
19.05-22.09 West Midlands Open, New Art Gallery, Walsall
24.03.22 Two works long-listed for Jackson's Painting Prize
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01.12-14.01 Worcester Open, The ArtHouse, Worcester
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2020
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31.01-09.02 PoArtry exhibition, NAC, Wolverhampton
2019
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13-22.09 AW Autumn Show, Artists Workhouse, Studley, Warwickshire
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30.08-08.09 FacetoFace project tour, General Office gallery, Stourbridge
15-30.06 Warwickshire Open Studios, Artists Workhouse, Studley
04.06-07.07 Face to Face project tour, Canwood Gallery, Checkley, Herefordshire
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06-14.04 Face to Face project tour, Artists Workhouse, Studley, Warwickshire
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01-10.03 AW Spring Show, Artists Workhouse, Studley, Warwickshire
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-24.02 Coventry Biennial Open Competition, Herbert Museum & Art Gallery
2018
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08.12- Coventry Biennial Open Competition, Herbert Museum & Art Gallery
12.10-04.12 Anchor Gallery @Warehouse Café, Birmingham
28.09-06.10 AW Members Exhibition, Little Buckland Gallery, Cotswolds
05-31.08 CC Summer Exhibition, Gunmakers Arms
23.06-01.07 Balance AW Open, Artists Workhouse, Studley, Warwickshire
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13.04-10.05 What Does Art Say? Anchor Gallery @Peel & Stone, Harborne, Birmingham
29.03-23.06 Four Women, 1000 Trades, Frederick St, Birmingham
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28.03-03.06 Blue Butterfly Gallery, Solihull, West Midlands
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19.02-11.03 Almost Spring, Gunmakers Arms, Bath St, Birmingham
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29.10-03.03 Blue Butterfly Gallery, Solihull, West Midlands
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2017
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30.06-31.07 Jazz Geometries -1, Courtyard Gallery, Winterbourne House, Birmingham
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27.06-10.07 CC Summer Exhibition, Courtyard Gallery, The Core, Solihull, West Midlands
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03.05-03.07 JaneandRuth, Kitchen Garden Café, Kings Heath, Birmingham
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2016
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06.09-28.10 Exchange, CHAS@Moseley Exchange Gallery, Birmingham
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02.07 Drawing to Jazz pop up exhibition, Eastside Studios, Birmingham
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09-15.05 Postcard art, Preston Street Union @Exeter Artweek, Exeter
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14-30.04 Art Yard Open, Reddal Hill Road, Cradley Heath, West Midlands
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2015
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18.07-06.09 CHAS Summer Show, MAC, Birmingham
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2013
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Winter Open, Courtyard Gallery, Hertford
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04 contact
instagram.com/janespencepaintings1