Previous AA2A Artist

Jenny Smith

Year:
2009-10
Project summary:
During the AA2A scheme I aim to develop my research into the use of digital technology as a drawing medium whilst producing a new body of larger scale laser cut drawings and prints, and create several new artist's books.
 
I am researching into memory and place with reference to drawing and Zen philosophy. I am interested in the relationship between concept and process. In ways that chance and accident can interrupt repetitive processes and how hand rendered imagery can be re - interpreted using digital technology, specifically laser cutting into paper.
I have become increasingly interested in drawing by working into the paper, rather than onto it, creating imprints and incisions that become metaphors for the memory of a particular time or place. Casting shadows, the finished work changes in response to the environment or angle it is viewed from. Laser cutting is a natural progression in this line of enquiry.
 
To date I have produced a body of mainly small scale laser cut work, which has been exhibited widely and accepted for a number of exhibitions, including this years Jerwood Drawing Prize and Royal Academy Summer Exhibition. With the help of the AA2A scheme I would like to develop a new body of larger scale work within the context of my on going research and experimentation, this may include large scale installed laser cut drawings.
 
The use of the laser cutting facilities at Loughborough will enable me to build on several new directions in my practice and push some of my current lines of enquiry further, increasing the scale I work in and looking at ways I can push the parameters of my methodologies. The spirit of enquiry and  experiementation an Art College environmnet offers is particularly relevant given that laser cutting is its infancy as a fine art medium.
 
One of the main benefits of the AA2A project is it will enable me to  have regular access to equipment which is essential to the development of my practice, but to which I don't currently have access on a regular basis.