Janet Blackman

BA (Hons) Fine Art


My art practice is centred on who I am. Constantly referencing my conscious and subconscious understanding of the world as the mother, wife and dancer, I strive to create work that is “true to myself” and inherently bestowing qualities such as movement, balance, fluidity, trepidation and tension within them; this comes from my physical understanding of the world an instinctive choreography, a dialogue that is translated into my work. Using materials that may be domestically sourced, familiar, found, but most of all sensorially intriguing, I aim to create work that reflects a sense of who I am and which inevitably has some underlying element of my fundamental “balancing act” of life.

My current sculptural work has evolved from an exploration of the mundane and often neglected object: “the clothes peg”. Having investigated the cultural, literary and metaphorical imagery associated with this object, and by deconstructing and reconstructing it. I have now taken these conscious and subconscious, physical, mental and bodily learnt visualisations to create my work. By translating these metaphorical maternal associations of the nurturing role of the clothes peg I have given it permission to “let go” and liberate it from its’ inherent responsibilities.


Mae fy nghelf wedi’i ganoli ar bwy ydw i. Gan gyfeirio’n gyson at fy nealltwriaeth ymwybodol ac is-ymwybodol o’r byd o safbwynt mam, gwraig a dawnswraig, rwyf yn ymdrechu i greu gwaith sy’n “driw i fi fy hun” ac yn reddfol gyflwyno priodweddau megis symudiad, cydbwysedd, llifedd, anesmwythder a thensiwn ynddo; mae hyn yn deillio o fy nealltwriaeth corfforol o’r byd gyda choreograffiaeth reddfol, dialog sy’n trawsnewid i fy ngwaith. Rwyf yn defnyddio deunyddiau domestig, cyfarwydd, rhai dwi’n dod ar eu traws ond yn bennaf yn rhai synhwyraidd diddorol. Fy nod yw creu gwaith sy’n adlewyrchu synnwyr o bwy ydw i ac o reidrwydd yn cynnwys elfen waelodol o fy ymgais i gydbwyso fy mywyd.

Mae fy ngwaith cerflunio wedi datblygu o ymchwiliad i wrthrych cyffredin sy’n cael ei esgeuluso’n fynych sef “y peg dillad”. Rwyf wedi ymchwilio i’r ddelweddaeth ddiwylliannol, llenyddol a throsiadol sy’n gysylltiedig â’r gwrthrych hwn a’i ddadelfennu a’i ail-greu. I greu fy ngwaith, rydw i wedi defnyddio’r delweddau ymwybodol, a’r is-ymwybodol, ffisegol, meddyliol a chorfforol a ddysgais. Wrth drosi’r cysylltiadau trosiadol mamol hyn o rôl feithrin y peg dillad, rydw i wedi rhoi caniatâd iddo “adael fynd” a’i ryddhau o’i gyfrifoldebau cynhenid.

Other Exhibitors:

Menna Dummett

Menna Dummett

My work currently surrounds the study of important individuals in my life. I aim to reflect the subtle emotions that can be captured candidly whilst watching someone closely and understanding them. My work predominantly consists of coloured pencil drawings which I...

Elena Grace

Elena Grace

My current practice focuses on Grief and Absence explored through lived spaces, this is visualised in oil paintings using muted colours and brushwork techniques to form a blurry illusion representative of memory. These paintings search for value in inanimate things...

Katie Cook

Katie Cook

I have been directing my studio practice towards the theme of animal abuse, animal neglection, pet breading/ selling and rescue animals. I have a few reasons as to why I want to make my artwork around these themes. I have a fair amount of rescue animals myself; I love...

Louise Emily Brown

Louise Emily Brown

My work evolves from the perception of the female body and occurs through the process of capturing my naked body in a variety of different naturalistic locations. These works are in response to the media’s representation of the female body and its negative effects on...

Ellie Stitfall

Ellie Stitfall

My current practice involves a collaborative element by asking people what their recent dreams have been; however crazy or mundane, so I can work collectively with their ideas and my own artistic influence, to create a visually engaging artwork of the imagination. I...

Frankie Hedger

Frankie Hedger

My artwork is made in response to the ambitions that I have to create a sustainable art practice. In this bid to create the type of practice I desire, I have concentrated on using materials that have both; achievably sustainable making processes and outcomes. Whilst...