Are you an artist?
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Jennifer Hawkins admits she is always at a bit of a loss when asked this question, and usually side-steps it.
“I just like to make things,” she said.
However, Jennifer readily admits to being a “compulsive maker” and, if pressed, “a gardener”.
As a very-mature student, Jennifer said she found art-school challenging as the information was new and the language strange.
She said she remembered asking and experienced colleague what was meant by ‘form and content’? She thinks any other department would have failed her, but she gives thanks to teacher Peter Herel, who saw talent worth nurturing.
She graduated from the Graphic Investigation Department at the Canberra School of Art in 1981.
Jennifer’s work is often referred to as “that weird stuff”. Her piece Automated Walk documented her experience of obeying traffic lights four eight hours at a four-way pedestrian crossing in St James Station, Elizabeth Street, Sydney; those vital hours between 9am and 5pm when we become like automata in the work-place.
Her audio-visual piece On The Edge used the sound of a metronome against the sound of her own heart-beat after she’d had a quick run around the block.
Her practice is driven by an idea, which is explored through whatever materials and processes serve that idea. She said the title is an integral part of each work.
Jennifer moved to Narooma in 2001 and took time to play, do trials, make mistakes, enter competitions and join in the creative and supportive community.
Lately, she has been creating large, installation works about species extinction and its consequences, though these wont be on show until next year.
The Montague Art and Craft Society is a recreational arts facility which offers members a place to work in creative groups, attend workshops and opportunities to exhibit.