Jenny Mc Namara (b. 1994) is an Irish artist/designer. She’s pattern and colour obsessed and works across a range of media including LED light and sculpture. She has been awarded public funding by Arts Council England to support the development of her work
She’s also an arts organiser and since 2018 has run a project called The Spaghetti Factory with Eve Cromwell, which aims to support early career artists in the North East. She is a BALTIC Freelance Artist and currently works as Arts Curator (Participation Programmes) at Newcastle Hospitals Charity for Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Jenny is from Dublin, Ireland and has been living in the North East of England for the past 10 years
I’m a visual artist
I moved to the North East in 2014 to study Glass and Ceramics at The National Glass Centre in Sunderland. After that, I studied at Newcastle Uni for a Fine Art MA. I also have a curatorial practice and have been working as a freelance curator since 2018.
In my studio work I explore emotional response to colour and pattern and I’m interested in the relationship between art and wellbeing.
I like pattern because it can be dazzling, eye-catching, mesmerising, it can draw and hold your visual attention. I think because of this, it can be a good tool for mindfulness. Mindfulness is the practice of gently focusing your awareness on the present moment, just relying on your incoming sensory data. When you’re focused on the present moment, for a minute you don’t worry about the past or the future. The practice of mindfulness has been linked to decreased stress and increased focus and happiness.
I’m interested in both finding patterns and the creation of new patterns. I photograph patterns that I find out in the world, these often form the basis and inspiration for my sculptural work. The sculptures I make are often ‘pattern machines’, they use reflective materials or lenses to disrupt patterns and make new ones. I sometimes explore them further by bringing them back into 2D through photography, print and painting.
I like the repetition involved in making patterns, I find it comforting, calming, it makes me feel focused. There’s something nice about doing the same thing over and over again, like knitting. I’m a fan of Op art and Minimalism. I like clean lines and I think that having less visual information focuses you. I like to use bright jewel toned colours in my work, but only 2 or 3 at a time so the palette doesn’t get too muddy. I’m also really interested in the application of colour and pattern on our cities and everyday surroundings and the lack of it.
