Jemma
Powell
b. 1980, Sussex UK, lives and works in Oxfordshire
Donated Artwork
Often painting ‘en plein air’, Powell’s work is cross-pollinated with the sensory essence of the day whether that be reflected in lashings of torrid intense heat, wind rushing through lush greenery or a moistness in the air. Once the first colour is laid on a canvas, the first shape is marked out in Powell’s definitive, energetically charged brushstrokes with subsequent strokes following in conversation with one another.
The River Runs Around, 2023
Oil on board
25 x 64 cm
Unique
About the Artist
Jemma Powell’s paintings begin in the landscape. She will spend hours observing her surroundings in a sensory process: the torridity of intense heat, the sound of wind through lush greenery, the smell of moistness in the air, and, of course, the study of form and shape.
Jemma mostly paints en plein air to ensure the painting becomes cross-pollinated with the essence of the day. Having absorbed the feeling of a place, she will intuitively decide the first colour to strike her canvas with. Once the first colour is laid on, the first shape marked out in Jemma’s characteristic energetic brushstrokes, the others follow in conversation. The artist will instinctively, trance-like, lay mark over mark until the painting is finished. Because of this, her paintings have a captivating fluidity and dynamism, a sense of calm alongside one of joyful chaos. The flurry of marks which appear in quick succession are tempered by the complete absorption of the artist herself.
Collections & Exhibitions
Jemma has exhibited successfully with galleries in London and the South of England with a recent solo show in London. Her work has an international following with collectors in Europe, America and Australia. Selected solo exhibitions
Selected solo exhibitions:
2022 Searching for Stillness, Cricket Fine Art
2019 Anthropologie, Cheltenham
2018 Anthropologie, Kings Rd, London
Selected group exhibitions :
2022
Group show, curated by Flora Fairbairn and Katie Heller, Oxfordshire
2021
Eastwood Fine Art Spring Show
Moncrieff Bray Gallery Spring Show
Cricket Fine Art Summer Show, London
Zuleika Gallery, Oxfordshire, Summer Show
2020
Art at the Bus, The North Wall, Oxford
Affordable Art Fayre, Battersea, London
Zuleika Gallery, Online, Art from the Heart
Eastwood Fine Art, Spring Show, Hampshire
Moncrieff Bray, Coming Back Together, Sussex
Eastwood Fine Art, Autumn Show, Hampshire
Moncrieff Bray Gallery, Autumn Show, Sussex
Eastwood Fine Art, Autumn show, Hampshire
2019
Moncrieff Bray Gallery Spring Show, Through the Artist’s Eye
2018
Secret Charter, Dulwich Picture House
Affordable Art Fayre, Battersea, London