AS far back as she can remember, Jenny Jessop always wanted to be an artist. The 39-year-old Irish artist now calls Mordialloc home but she recalls art being a big part of her family’s life back in the town of Boyle.
Her artist father and psychotherapist mother encouraged Jessop and her four siblings – including actor and comedian Chris O’Dowd, renowned for TV show The IT Crowd and movies Bridesmaids and The Sapphires – to pursue their artistic ambitions.
The 39-year-old mother-of-three who has a fine art degree and majored in sculpture and photography is preparing for her first solo art exhibition called Grounded at Parkdale’s Shirley Burke Theatre.
Jessop says the inspiration for the exhibition came from her move to Australia.
“It’s a big transition moving from Ireland to a new country,” she said.
“I walked with my kids and wanted to connect myself with the area so to become grounded in myself I studied the ground of the country – this new land that I’m living in.”
Jessop decided to turn ground markings and textures into artworks painted on slate.
“I use the ground markings as a foundation drawing and then turn them into landscapes. Much like me I’m building on what’s already here and creating a landscape for myself and in turn I’m connecting with my new home.”
Inspiration is everywhere we walk. Jessop says the wooden floor of the Mentone Life Saving Club, for example, “has so much history for every person who has walked on it”.
The relative newcomer to Mordialloc has thrown herself into community work and enjoys time spent as an art tutor for adults with physical disabilities at Hampton Community Centre and children with intellectual disabilities at Sandringham’s Sandybeach Centre alongside volunteer work for Kingston Arts.
“I find art to be second nature,” she said.
- The Grounded exhibition is at G3, Shirley Burke Theatre, 63 Parkers Rd, Parkdale from Friday 26 February-Saturday 26 March, Wed to Fri, 9am-5pm, Sat, 12 – 5pm. Entry is free.
See kingstonarts.com.au for details.
First published in the Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News – 24 February 2016
