Jemima Stilwell

Ever since she can remember Jemima has been interested in making art. After studying Fine Art at Newcastle University, she went on to exhibit at The Robert Hall Gallery in London, then became increasingly involved in performance art and music; working alongside musicians and producers creating an art group called Kish Mauve. Kish Mauve performed group shows involving their own music, projections and costumes at venues such as the White Chapel Gallery and the ICA. Over the next decade Jemima became more immersed in the music industry, writing pop songs for international artists such as Ellie Goulding and Kylie Minogue. 

 

Moving out of London to Hay-on-Wye and motherhood led her away from the music industry and back towards her own art. Jemima currently paints large scale works on canvases and also makes collages. Even though her earlier work was based in performance and music, it carried the same themes as it does today and the expression within it is from an instinctive and emotional place. Using symbols such as birds, faces, animals and also bits of text to anchor you to some recognisable imagery amongst abstract mark making.

 

Birds often appear in her work representing freedom - something she has often longed for as a Mother but has been unable to obtain. Sometimes childhood memories arise as Jemima works, whether dark or light-hearted they get woven in. Jemima’s overriding interest has always been to explore what it is to be human: the joy, the humour, the trauma, the darkness and all the contradictions within us. She works in her studio, a majestic old bank in Hay, whilst listening to music - the artwork sometimes influencing her song writing. She say’s “it's chaos as I’ll need to get a song idea down midway through making a massive mess with paints!”

 

Materials: Acrylic paint, Collage paper, Printing ink, Pencil, Coloured chalks, Acrylic felt tips, Charcoal