www.jesswoodrow.com
Born in the Malverns in Worcestershire, Jess Woodrow now lives in Hay-on-Wye, Powys.
Artist's statement: "It’s important to me that a painting has a frequency - a certain vibration.
A bringing together of different elements - colour, texture, form - until there is a resonance between a subconscious awareness and an external feeling of having a place in the world - and that that awareness vibrates slowly into the very distant past.
I think of this as a kind of power that sometimes others may recognise - and what’s important is the search for this kind of connection.
I have attempted to create a visual language over many years - that on the one hand is precise and visible: a language where nothing is hidden, but on the other hand is somewhere else completely. I keep looking for this resonance between the inside and the out, the point where self-identity is momentarily lost.
I imagine that I could travel around the universe so fast that I meet myself coming the other way! The envy caused by the meeting of this other ‘perfect’ being is what sends me back to the drawing board.
On a more grounded level, my work is a conversation with other art, across time and cultures." July 2025
Born: Malverns, Worcestershire, England
Lives: Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales
Education
Selected exhibitions
Born in the Malverns in Worcestershire, Jess Woodrow now lives in Hay-on-Wye, Powys.
Artist's statement: "It’s important to me that a painting has a frequency - a certain vibration.
A bringing together of different elements - colour, texture, form - until there is a resonance between a subconscious awareness and an external feeling of having a place in the world - and that that awareness vibrates slowly into the very distant past.
I think of this as a kind of power that sometimes others may recognise - and what’s important is the search for this kind of connection.
I have attempted to create a visual language over many years - that on the one hand is precise and visible: a language where nothing is hidden, but on the other hand is somewhere else completely. I keep looking for this resonance between the inside and the out, the point where self-identity is momentarily lost.
I imagine that I could travel around the universe so fast that I meet myself coming the other way! The envy caused by the meeting of this other ‘perfect’ being is what sends me back to the drawing board.
On a more grounded level, my work is a conversation with other art, across time and cultures." July 2025
Born: Malverns, Worcestershire, England
Lives: Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales
Education
- MA - Bath College of Art + Design (2008 - distinction) Fine Art (pg dip) - University of Wales (Cardiff)
- BA(Hons) Fine Art - Howard Gardens, Cardiff. (1990)
- Diploma in Foundation studies - Weston-super-Mare College of Art
Selected exhibitions
- 2025, ‘Out West’ - Oriel Gwyn, Aberaeron
- 2025, ‘Out of the Blues’ - Studio Cennen, Llandeilo
- 2025, ‘The Unexpected’ - Studio Cennen, Llandeilo
- 2024, ‘Where are we now?’ - Oriel Canfas, Cardiff
- 2023, Concentric Group Show - West Wharf Gallery, Cardiff
- 2023, RCA Open, Conwy
- Beep painting prize 2022, Elysium, Swansea
- 2022, 'Mad shadows Mute ghosts'. Curated by Jess Woodrow: Group show with Jacqueline Alkema, Rosie McLachlan, Sophie Woodrow, Flora McLachlan, Oriel Q, Narberth Pembrokeshire.
- 2022, 'Walking in Two Worlds', group show. Curated by Jonathan Powell, Steph Goodger, Julian Rowe. Volcano, Swansea (Elysium)
- 2022, 'Hibernation', group show with work created in lockdown. Curated by David Morgan Davies. Abergavenny Art Shop and Chapel gallery.
- 2022, Drawing. Members show. Oriel Q, Narberth
- 2021, Aspects of Landscape - 3 artists. Oriel Q, Narberth. Curated by Harriet Addyman
- 2021, 'Walking in Two Worlds'. Curated by Jonathan Powell, Steph Goodger and Julian Rowe. Oceans Apart Gallery, Salford and Oriel Caernarfon, Gwynedd.
- 2016, 'The Sound of Water', solo show. Oriel Q, Narberth, Pembrokeshire
- 2015, Abergavenny art shop and Chapel gallery - summer show
- 2015, '10 Artists from Bristol and London', Searchers Contemporary, Bristol
- 2013, 'Objects of Desire'. Searchers Contemporary, Bristol
- 2010, Open Painting - A survey of contemporary painting. RWA Bristol
- 2006/8 exhibited with West Wales Art centre Fishguard
