Jenny Purrett came from Bristol to take up her post as artist in residence at Highgreen. She studied at the University of Central England, Birmingham, and completed her MA in Fine Art at Bath Spa University. Drawing is at the heart of Jenny’s practice. As she explained, “Descartes talked about the eyes as tools for feeling the tactile textures of the world, and for me drawing was about touching with the eyes… The mark is a kind of contact between artist and subject.”
Throughout her residency, Jenny maintained a disciplined routine of daily pen and ink drawings and journal entries, which she shared weekly through her blog. These writings and sketches documented her reflections on place, perception, and the cumulative nature of experience. Alongside developing her own work, she led workshops, hosted open days, and organised activity sessions for visitors and local groups.
Her end of residency exhibition, Cumulation, explored how small, repeated actions build into larger narratives — both in life and in landscape. The exhibition’s title reflected Jenny’s belief that “life is cumulative… however small an action might be, it is part of the big picture.”
Among the works exhibited was Year-long Line, a continuous drawing added to each day of her residency. From this piece, she developed a series of forty-six drawings titled Line As Experience, each representing a week’s worth of drawing condensed into a single sheet. The layered lines captured thoughts and sensations linked to time and place — some visible, others obscured beneath later marks, creating a woven record of lived experience.
Other works extended this interest in material and narrative layering. Felt Sheets (a series of three) was made from fleeces felted by hand over three days, each retaining traces of the sheep’s environment — moss, lichen, and grass embedded in the fibres. In Shot Paper, rolls of paper were marked and torn by shotgun pellets, creating bark-like textures reminiscent of birch trees. Together, these works reflected Jenny’s sensitivity to surface, time, and the traces of interaction between people and place.
Jenny also made a significant contribution to the local community. She held open studio events, led popular winter drawing workshops, and ran a Creative Drawing Day that attracted participants from across Northumberland and Tyneside. Her workshops encouraged confidence and experimentation, inspiring an ongoing village drawing group.
In addition, she led creative sessions during a Family Fun Day at Kielder Castle, where families made over eighty plaster ‘fossil’ casts. These activities demonstrated Jenny’s enthusiasm for making art accessible and her ability to connect creativity with community life.
