Exciting batik & textile artist, Jenny O’Leary
Jenny was our guest speaker for our June meeting. She explained that she had studied ceramics at Wolverhampton and then gone on to teach. In 2005 she stopped, went to France and started running courses for adults to learn batik using tissue paper.
The countryside around her has always been important to Jenny and she showed us two pieces which were inspired by the Shropshire Way. The work of John Piper has also interested her and she showed us several architectural designs influenced by his paintings.
Jenny displayed a variety of her work and talked through the processes. There were exciting sketchbooks to look through together with samples, workshop ideas and experiments.
Jenny was extremely generous with sharing her technique of using tissue papers, drawing inks, oil pastels with stencils and wax. She layers up her work and repeats the processes until she is happy with the design and colours.
Jenny has run a number of courses at Art Van Go and mentioned that a lot of her materials can be bought through their website.
During the pandemic she also lead a number of online classes and has contributed to Maggie Grey’s WOW series of textile project books.
We thank Jenny for a most enjoyable talk.
Report and photos by Ros
Jenny’s website: https://jennyolearytextiles.com/
Jenny’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/jennyolearytextileart/
Jenny can also be found on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenny.oleary/?hl=en
Art Van Go website: https://www.vycombe-arts.co.uk/
Maggie Grey’s website for WOW books: https://wowbook.d4daisy.com/