Frith
These are the works which were exhibited at Park Theatre, Finsbury Park, London from 4 February 2017 to 29 January 2018.
They are all for sale.
Here are the labels for the exhibition:
Jenny Thorburn makes her work by going out into the 6 square miles of woodland near her home that is the Ashridge Estate and Berkhamsted Common in the Chiltern Hills, about 30 miles north west of London. Jenny walks and sits out in the woods drawing individual trees. Back in the studio she uses these drawings to make woodcut prints and ink drawings.
The Dens
Often there are structures in the woods made from branches and sticks – ‘dens’. Jenny photographs them and uses these to make pen drawings, examining their architecture. They are enigmatic; we don’t know who has made the dens we find and why. They all follow a plan of a beam and ‘rafters’, and sometimes are ‘thatched’ with bracken. They seem to be an archetype for a ‘house’, including, often, a symbolic fire by the doorway. They hint at a desire to make a home in the ‘wild’, returning to a wilder existence.
Twisted Beech
The ‘Twisted Beech’ tree is one of a group of ancient ‘pollarded’ beech trees in an area of woodland on Berkhamsted Common called Frithsden beeches. Each ancient tree has been cut and regrown many times over the centuries and the scars and new growth have created weird forms in the woods.
‘Frith’ is an Anglo Saxon word which was often applied to woods and wooded landscapes, and remains in place names today. The meaning of Frith is peace, protection, freedom from molestation, security, from a root meaning ‘beloved, happy’ (Wikipedia). For Jenny this confirms her feeling that being in the woods is a refuge from modernity and a sanctuary to gain peace and inspiration from woodland life.
They are all for sale.
Here are the labels for the exhibition:
Jenny Thorburn makes her work by going out into the 6 square miles of woodland near her home that is the Ashridge Estate and Berkhamsted Common in the Chiltern Hills, about 30 miles north west of London. Jenny walks and sits out in the woods drawing individual trees. Back in the studio she uses these drawings to make woodcut prints and ink drawings.
The Dens
Often there are structures in the woods made from branches and sticks – ‘dens’. Jenny photographs them and uses these to make pen drawings, examining their architecture. They are enigmatic; we don’t know who has made the dens we find and why. They all follow a plan of a beam and ‘rafters’, and sometimes are ‘thatched’ with bracken. They seem to be an archetype for a ‘house’, including, often, a symbolic fire by the doorway. They hint at a desire to make a home in the ‘wild’, returning to a wilder existence.
Twisted Beech
The ‘Twisted Beech’ tree is one of a group of ancient ‘pollarded’ beech trees in an area of woodland on Berkhamsted Common called Frithsden beeches. Each ancient tree has been cut and regrown many times over the centuries and the scars and new growth have created weird forms in the woods.
‘Frith’ is an Anglo Saxon word which was often applied to woods and wooded landscapes, and remains in place names today. The meaning of Frith is peace, protection, freedom from molestation, security, from a root meaning ‘beloved, happy’ (Wikipedia). For Jenny this confirms her feeling that being in the woods is a refuge from modernity and a sanctuary to gain peace and inspiration from woodland life.