We are delighted to present an interview with Jenny Grevatte and a preview of her exhibition here at Goldmark, held to mark her 70th year and 50 years as an artist.
Grevatte's mixed media works are full of spontaneity and energy and draw inspiration from many sources. This show features new paintings inspired by a trip to Sicily - an island of sunshine - together with Jenny’s own favourite subjects of woodlands, apple orchards, sunflowers, rooftops and still life. A new and powerful theme is the moon, seen in all its various moods, which has allowed Jenny to explore a darker palette.“My work celebrates the joy in life. It brings me pleasure and solace in the making and I hope equally will delight the viewer.”Jenny Grevatte lives in her home county of Leicestershire and trained at Leicester’s De Montfort University. She began her career in 1970 as a painter of small still lives and was discovered by renowned art dealer, Lillian Browse, when only twenty nine. Jenny’s first solo show was subsequently held at the Browse and Darby gallery, in Cork Street, London in 1981.Many other solo shows have followed; including a retrospective at Abbot Hall Art Gallery, Kendal in 1991 and a prestigious 1992 exhibition at Leicester Museum and Art Gallery, which toured to the Saarland, Germany. In 1997 she ‘discovered’ Cornwall and has produced many vibrant paintings of its coast and harbour towns. In 2010 she had a major two venue show, at New Walk Museum and Art Gallery and the Attenborough Arts Centre in Leicester. Two documentary length films about her work have been made by Alex J. Wright, her filmmaker son, “A Painter’s Progress” and “Keeping an Eye Open”, which are available on Youtube and Vimeo.
