Jill Impey, The Art of Reflection
by Julie Hoggarth, Brass Tacs 10.10.2019
In visual terms, Jill Impey’s art is a series of serene yet thought provoking installations: a full-sized elephant made of empire furniture, photographs of the River Severn in flood, slices of tree trunk. Visually they are gentle and engaging but they are not the art itself. In fact the visual elements generally form one stage of a process serving as a springboard for reflection on what is or has been, and a stimulus for those who encounter them to think and look with new eyes, and become part of the art. Once engaged, viewers are moved to respond actively or passively to a number of compelling themes, which run like currents through all of the work. Heritage and historical narratives is one such theme, nature, its paradoxical fragility and power, is another. The driving force of the work however is always the role of the observer who is both witness and participant. Jill Impey’s art is to hold up a mirror to the observer and to acknowledge their responses. It is in this way enigmatic and engaging in a very modern way.
There is an elephant, which stands over 2 meters high, made of furniture from the days of the British empire which embodies a complexity of metaphors about power and acquisition, our response to history, to nature and ultimately to ourselves. Typically however the outer structure is just one element of the work. In fact the real intention is to get people to open up to one another. Visitors are encouraged to sit inside the elephant and converse. The smallness of the space, the oddness, and being face to face with a fellow human naturally generates communication. Which then becomes part of the art.
Again, with Jill Impey, the acknowledgement of those who witness her art or engage with her participatory events, is the product. The words created by visitors to her workshops are recorded, printed and published in audio, visual and text form, as in beinghumanproject. In this, typically multi-staged work which involved workshops, recordings, photography and 3 exhibitions, the faces of teenagers commenting on artefacts in their local museum are magnified and ennobled on large TV screens which sit within museum spaces, but never blend in. They represent the voices of the unheard and are accordingly slightly jarring. The young people’s reflections on the artefacts and on heritage and their own place within history are equally disruptive – and valuable in giving voice to the voiceless. The participant commentaries become the artefacts and simultaneously creators. Besides the attention to detail, craftsmanship and curatorial care of the work, this multi-layered thinking and paradoxical focus on the engagee is what makes the work so relevant today.
Much of Jill Impey’s work ponders the grandiose narratives with which capitalism justifies itself, e.g. the Tate and Lyle fortune wrenched from slavery and sugar or the horrific paradox of Victorian taxidermy, and it proposes a humane solution in the words of lesser-heard voices; particularly sections of society whose views are generally discounted as naïve or irrelevant, e.g. teenagers and the elderly.
Impey does not bellow, she is not in your face or strident. She is far more subtle. She guides us through layers of meaning, e.g. via a series of objects related to World War 1 in a recent manifestation of her Cabinet of Curiosity. For instance the white feathers presented to ‘cowards’ and the red poppies of Flanders fields are at one and the same time reminders of the horrors of war and are yet beautiful natural objects, symbols of regrowth and life, visually striking and ultimately stimuli for conversation, reflection and new artworks. Witnessing discussion, word pieces and visual responses to these items by inmates at a midlands prison brought home truly the narrowness of the voices we usually hear – via the media – and which shape our thinking. The Cabinet of Curiosity as with all her works, exposes the limitations and potentials of the way we live.
The depth of thought, which goes into Jill Impey’s participatory experiences, is belied by their seeming effortlessness. Every detail is considered and time is of no relevance in terms of preparation and delivery. If more time is needed, more time is given. If more work is needed, more work is done. Installations will often involve technical aspects, for instance projections, video screens, audio commentary, all of which are painstakingly researched and installed by the artist.
The artworks can appear fragile and transitory; the precarious elephant looks as though it could collapse at any moment, but this is very far from the truth as the work is designed to tour and endure. The Elephant in the Room has just returned to Powis Castle, along with a new audiovisual installation, after a four-year residency at Participate Contemporary Artspace in Shrewsbury. This illusory quality is for me the most characteristic feature of Jill Impey the artist and her work. Like no other artist she twists our perceptions of what art is, who it is for, who can be a part of it and how art can and should respect its audiences.
Artist Statement
Exploring the role of the artist revealing truths, through notions of shifting borders, boundaries and thresholds; my film installations look at the formation of human identity, in relation to place, culture, art, heritage and migration. Drawing on personal experience of displacement and neurodivergence, the work considers the abject, in relation to location, and in terms of reality and façade, inclusion and otherness, evolutionary development and the unquantifiable sublime.
My practice strives to make manifest the interconnectivity between humans, nature and wellbeing. I have a participatory process, based in research, encouraging engagement through the handling and creative interpretation of historic artefacts, contemporary artworks and natural found objects, that often relate to a social and sensory archaeology of place and time. This process culminates in filmed and recorded interviews and collaborative artworks. In exhibition these recordings are often juxtaposed with audiovisual installations and representations of natural phenomena in heritage or unusual exhibition spaces, and re-activated by residencies or workshops. My gently inclusive workshops bring together diverse individuals in expressive creative activity, within stimulating curated environments, to draw, print, respond through words, photography, film and sound recording. In some of my work I assume a prerformative persona, using costume and props to heighten thematic links and investment in the experience. I am a Reiki and Shiatsu practitioner, with a holistic approach to wellbeing and self-development.
Work
2012- present: Artist in film, installation and participatory practice
2015-present: Co-Director & founder of Participate Contemporary Artspace CIC
2014- present: member of re:collect, contemporary artists working in heritage contexts
2012-2014, Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery, Contemporary Artist Professional Development Programme (Arts Council Funded): selected as one of 8 regional artists to develop and advocate contemporary art and interpretive projects in heritage contexts
2003-2015, Shrewsbury College:
2014- July 2015, Course Leader & Lecturer UAL AB L3/4 Foundation Diploma in Art & Design
2012- 2014, Course Leader & Lecturer UAL AB L3 Extended Diploma in Art & Design
2003-2012, Course Leader & Lecturer BTEC Extended Diploma in Art & Design yr1
2009-2012, Lecturer BTEC Extended Diploma in Art & Design yr2,
Specialism: printmaking, photography, digital video, painting, drawing and computers in art & design, delivering and embedding contextual influences, professional practice, ideas and concepts, with a particular emphasis on inclusion and equality and diversity. Pop up Art School in the Darwin Centre 2013,14 & 15; residential trips to: Liverpool, London, Glasgow, Amsterdam and Paris. Left July 2015 to develop art practice
2010 – 2012, PGCE Mentor, Shrewsbury College
2001-2003, Leicester Adult Education College: ESOL, Printmaking, Painting & Drawing
2002, St. Pauls Secondary School, Leicester, GCSE Art & Design, February – Exam, supported teaching
2001-2003, Leicester Print Workshop: Printmaking workshops
1995-96, Brighton School of English, Barcelona: ESL teacher
1986-2002, Fingerprints (Bradford) Ltd. T/A PINKFISH: Design & Print co-operative: Founding Member & Director: developing graphic and textile design for print and embroidery for ethical and environmental fashion and gift items and fine art prints. Day to day co-management and running of a retail outlet in Leeds; national and international sales , including visits to Japan, Spain and the Isles of Scilly.
Qualifications
Bronze & Silver Arts Award Training 2017
Iatsu (Shiatsu) and Reiki, Level 2 practitioner 2016 & 2017
Masters in Fine Art with Merit, Staffordshire University 2008-2010
PGCE, University of Wales, 2006
City & Guilds 7307 Further and Adult Education Teachers Certificate, 2002, Leicester College
TEFL – Teaching English as a Foreign Language, Bradford College, 1995
BTech Hons. 2:1- Textile Design, Science & Technology, Bradford University, 1981-85 with Industrial placement
Funded Projects:
2022-23 The Weather Report: Inclusion, Collaboration, Connection, ACE funded Touring Film, and workshops, with developmental and collaborative engagement exploring inclusion. With Artists Tanya Raabe Webber, Jamila Walker Thomas, and Emily Wilkinson and Curious Arts, ASpaceArts, DASH, Media Active, PCA, Drum&Brass.
2018-2021 The Weather Report, ACE funded in 2020, a curated a creative space (online or live) in which people from coastal and immigrant communities (in England in 2021 and New Zealand in 2018) reflected on relationships with heritage. They explored feelings about the weather, the sea, immigration, colonisation and notions of connection and took part in recording sessions that contributed to a film. Hosted by Lucida Impey, a mental health nurse just returned in 1948, from New Zealand.
2020 Participate Contemporary Artspace CIC, Getting Out There, COVID19 funding from ACE and Shropshire Council to support the gallery and studio artists to deliver online exhibitions and workshops during the lockdown period and beyond.
2017- 2018 The Beat of The Butterflies’ Wings, Tour of Midlands, ACE: Intergenerational project focusing on the importance of self-expression on wellbeing, & reflecting on the words of Wilfred Owen
2018, An Undertaking…..re:collect collaboration, St. Chads Church, Shrewsbury, Mentored project, ACE
2016- 2017, The Beat of The Butterflies’ Wings, ACE : Intergenerational project exploring and sharing thoughts and experiences of war & peace through creative expressive processes, interpreting stimuli from a travelling collection of contemporary artworks.
2014-2016, Curiosity, re:collect interventions, ACE: re:collect site responsive exhibition with a touring Cabinet of Curiosity
2012-2014, beinghuman, cultural identity project, ACE : project involving young people in a contemporary art and heritage context. in partnership with Wolverhampton Art Gallery, The New Art Gallery Walsall and the new Museum & Art Gallery in Shrewsbury
Commissions:
2019-20 Creative Conversations , 2 films of participant engagements with creative wellbeing workshops for the over 55’s developing digital and analogue skills.
2019-20 The Elephant in the Room, film & Installation for National Trust Powis Castle
2018-19, Cinderloo 1821, film and schools workshops, Heritage Lottery Funded, Telford
Exhibitions:
2021-23 The Weather Report, Shropshire Supports Refugees (SSR), National Marine Aquarium (NMA) Plymouth, The Hive, Theatre Severn Shrewsbury, Raglan New Zealand
2022 aKIN Unitarian Church, Shrewsbury, PCA group exhibition, DarwIN Festival
2021-2022, Cinderloo1821, group and community exhibition, Museum of Iron, Ironbridge, Shropshire
2021-2022, Winter Exhibition, Visual Arts Network, Shrewsbury
2021-2022, Arts and Crafts Exhibition 2021 , Qube, Oswestry
2021, Refugee Week Exhibition, Participate Contemporary Artspace, Shrewsbury
2021, the Weather Report, Shropshire Supports Refugees, Shrewsbury
2021, The Weather Report, National Marine Aquarium, Plymouth
2021, Windows of Light, an exhibition by Participate Studio Artists to be viewed through the windows, Participate Contemporary Artspace, Shrewsbury
2021, International Postcard Show 2021, Surface Gallery, Nottingham, online group exhibition
2021, Second Sight : light through the trees, The Unitarian Church, Shrewsbury and Participate Contemporary Artspace online group exhibition for The Darwin Festival
2020, Light, Participate Contemporary Artspace, online group exhibition
2020, Hereford First Fridays, Hereford’s a Great Place, online group exhibition
2020 ⚬Dot⚬Dot-Dash, Surface Gallery, Nottingham, online group exhibition
2019-20 The Elephant in the Room, film & Installation for National Trust Powis Castle
2019, Scaffolds of Nature, Participate Contemporary Artspace, Shrewsbury
2019, Encounters, VAN Gallery, Shrewsbury
2019, You, me and those who came before, Participate Contemporary Artspace, Shrewsbury
2018 The First Casualty of War, Tile museum, Ironbridge, & Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury
2018 The Weather Report, workshops & recording in Raglan and Kafia, North Island New Zealand
2018, An Undertaking…..re:collect collaboration, St. Chads Church, Shrewsbury
2017-18 The Beat of The Butterflies’ Wings tour, Library of Birmingham , HMP Leicester, Attingham Park
2017 The Beat of the Butterflies Wings’ (as Part of the Big Draw 2017)Participate Contemporary Artspace
2017, Eden………..Participate Contemporary Artspace, Open exhibition
2016-2017, The Beat of The Butterflies’ Wings, Community Gallery, Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery
2016, Migration….Qube, Open Exhibition, Oswestry
2016, Eden………..Participate Contemporary Artspace, Open exhibition
2016, The Nature of War , re:collect at Participate Contemporary Artspace & St Chad’s Church
2015-16, re:collect, Curiosity Tour: Unitarian Church, Shrewsbury; Powis Castle; Wrexham Museum
2015: The Elephant in the Room Conversations ……. Powis Castle
2015 The Elephant in the Room Conversations tour…… Participate Contemporary Artspace,Shrewsbury
2015, The First Casualty of War is Truth, re:collect group exhibition, Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery
2015, Grand Opening, group show…Participate Contemporary Artspace, Shrewsbury
2015, re:collect, Cabinet of Curiosity Tour, Wenlock Poetry Festival
2014/15, Curiosity re:collect interventions..Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery
2014, beinghumanproject 2014,…The New Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery
2013, beinghumanproject2012, …Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery
2013, beinghumanproject2012, …The New Art Gallery, Walsall
2012, Object Lessons, re:collect group exhibition, Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery
2012, 7 on the Severn and Wye…Mid Wales Art Gallery, Powys
2012, beinghumanproject2012…Wolverhampton Art Gallery
2011, Being Human…Exhibition Space ,School of Art, Shrewsbury College of Arts & Technology
2011, Qube Open ….Qube Gallery, Oswestry
2011, KinoCafe……Short Film Night, The Ironworks, Oswestry
2010, MA Fine Art … Staffordshire University
Workshops, Talks, Residencies & Presentations
2021-23 The Weather Report, face to face & online workshops, NMA, Age UK, Ocean Studios & Take -A-Part, Plymouth, SSR, Shrewsbury, The Dragon Theatre Barmouth, The Hive , Shrewsbury, Wolverhampton Arena Theatre, Theatre Severn Shrewsbury. The Old Art School, Raglan NZ, workshop presented by Jasmine Teei.
2022 Meadow Arts: This Land, a seriese of collaborative workshops with young people from MYCollege, The Hive, Shrewsbury, mental health and wellbeing focused, with Artist Andrew Howe and Poet Jean Atkin. Walking and responding creatively to boundaries & exhibiting work.
2020, Meadow Arts, what is contemporary art? Online workshop for The Worcester Festival
2017-2018, The Beat of The Butterflies’ Wings, Tour PCA, Library of Birmingham, Attingham Hall, HMP Leicester, resedencies and workshops
2016-2017, The Beat of The Butterflies’ Wings, community workshops & Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery
2016-17, Unitarian Church, Shrewsbury, Scour Mills, Redditch, Participate Contemporary Artspace, a range of Object analysis and printmaking workshops, (monotype, drypoint etching and colograph)
2016 Age UK, re:collect Cabinet of Curiosity, pilot reminiscence project, Shrewsbury
2016 re:collect Cabinet of Curiosity, Museums for Health & Wellbeing Conference, Manchester
2015, The Elephant in the Room Conversations at Powis Castle-workshops, talks & tours
2015, Severn Fields Project, Arts for Health , print workshop for staff and service users
2015, re:collect, Cabinet of Curiosity Tour: workshops; Powis Castle; Wrexham Museum
2015, The First Casualty of War is Truth, re:collect group exhibition, talks, Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery
2015, Curiosity re:collect interventions, workshops, talks & tours at Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery
2013, New Curators Group Exhibition: Migration, at Shrewsbury Museum & Art
Gallery, workshop involving Foundation Degree, students from the Art School
Shrewsbury College
2013, re:collect, Object Lessons exhibition, 2 half day workshops, with Foundation Art & Design from Shrewsbury College of Arts & Technology at Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery
2013, Arts Café, The Hive, Shrewsbury, Object Lessons presentation
2012, Being Human Project 2012- 6 workshops in Galleries & Museums around the West Midlands involving young people with the Gallery/Museum collections
2012, Talk – New Curators group at Shrewsbury Museum & Art Gallery
Community & Wellbeing Workshops: Shropshire Council DBS
2018-present Cinderloo1821, Telford schools workshops on local social history and nature, Heritage Schools
2020-21, Learn Telford, creative well-being workshops online and face-to-face
2019, Creative Conversations, 12 creative media workshops for over 55’s, The Redwoods Centre & Shropshire Wildlife Trust, Shrewsbury
2018, Creatures of the Mappa Mundi, commuity quilting and discussion workshops, in Hereford for Yinke Shonibare Studio and Meadow Arts
2018, Summer Art School, Bronze & Silver Arts Award, Participate Contemporary Artspace
2018 IceAge Cave painting & Sound workshops, for Meadow Arts , Hive Worcester
2017, Summer Art School, Bronze Arts Award, Participate Contemporary Artspace
2016, Summer, Practitioner plus, sessional paid work for NCS The Challenge, Birmingham
2015-present: Director of Participate Contemporary Artspace, community projects & exhibitions
2014- present Reiki and Iatsu (sister therapy to Acupressure) Practitioner
2011- 2013 Sectional Assistant, First Shrewsbury Explorer Group, Supporting Camps, Urban Hikes, Adventure Activities, and a D of E bronze Award, Film Project
Jill Impey 