'Cool
puppets' by Jenning Manning
I
was born in Adelaide in 1946 and educated in Melbourne and London. My
first degree at the ANU, Canberra, focused upon English Literature and
Philosophy, my second degree at the ANU School of Art focused upon
sculpture. After finishing a Diploma of Education at the University of
Canberra I taught briefly in the College system and with students with
special needs. For the past 23 years I have been, and still am, an
Educator in the Education and Public Programs sections of the National
Gallery of Australia, where I have had an interesting career interpreting
the permanent collection and all visiting exhibitions to all ages from
kindies to geriatrics.
It
was while studying sculpture that I furthered my interest in off loom
weaving with ropes, bandages, cables and plastics. This obsession with
binding and wrapping has been a persistent theme running through my more
recent painting and drawing practice. The illusion of three dimensionality
that is achieved by weaving forms over and under fascinates me as does the
vibrant use of colour and pattern, another persistent theme that evolved
from my interest in textiles.
'I have always been
interested in fibres, knots and tangled webs. Sometimes I drew them or
painted them and sometimes I explored the process in three dimensional
knitted fabrics. But in Mildura I discovered veins. It all started when
Peter Lancaster, a master Lithographer from Melbourne was her for a couple
of days printing works of art for Geoffrey Ricardo. He asked me to make a
drawing on a stone. I went to the fridge and found half a cabbage. This
drawing of curved leaf forms explored the delicate structure of veins and
capillaries and started me on a journey which led to drawings of
placentas, foetus like forms and ambiguous animal, insect, human organs.
Knots and tangles are still there but are now overlaid with a deeper
conceptual connection with how life is supported and how growth takes
place.
Who knows where this will lead, but I believe that this new direction is a
rich vein to explore.
Without my enriching time here as an artist in residence (The Art Vault,
Mildura) I may have languished in Canberra knitting and knotting and never
realising the potential of the cabbage leaf.'
Taken from 'In Residence: Reflections of Canberra based artist Jenny
Manning', Review, Issue 4, May 2009.