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Artizan are pleased to welcome Edinburgh based artist, Jenny Pope, to the gallery as part of our July Exhibitions as we continue our 2022 Bursary Programme.

Jenny’s exhibition, ‘tools to evoke change’ is a celebration of found objects, car boot sales, old men’s sheds and recycling. It is a playful collection of constructed imaginary self-help tools, the emotional made physical. Part worry beads, part talismans this eccentric cabinet of curiosities will give you a rueful smile.

Her current work is developing many tools in a collection of objects that is part of an on-going series exploring psychological change. She combines old objects, with layers of meaning and past uses, as a metaphor for the layers of past experiences and influences that have shaped us as people.

The tools have both a handheld part, a connection with the body, and a business end; to cut, measure, form, gather, press, pull, comb or scrape. People are inherently ‘doers’ and these tools are an attempt to do something when actually the process of change requires more of a ‘being with’. This is all set in the context of the Climate Crisis and our responses to it individually and collectively.

Jenny is a visual artist producing a range of work from small delicate objects to large-scale sculptural installations. She is intrigued by the physicality of materials, making processes and the meaning of objects.

At the core of her working practice is experimentation with the limits and possibilities of materials such as porcelain, found objects, felt, ink and paper.

Her explorations suggest links between archaeology, taxonomy, and psychology as she examines the intuitive/primitive use of found objects as contemporary worry beads or contemplative talismans.

She trained at Edinburgh College of Art, BA in Ceramics and MA in Sculpture, and exhibits regularly in the UK and divides her time between practicing artist and being a life coach and mentor for artists.

The exhibition will be featured in our Basement Gallery alongside our two other exhibitions in the remaining spaces