Kandake: Sudanese Sisters opening soon!
Artist and studio member, Jenny Mc Namara is being supported to work with Shieldfield Castle Nursery to create an exciting new mural for our neighbours!
We are excited to be continuing our work with Shieldfield Castle Nursery in co-developing a mural for their garden. The staff and children will create the mural with Artist Jenny McNamara in a series of fun and exploratory workshops which will look at shape finding, mindfulness and our local environment.
Jenny Mc Namara (b. 1994) is an artist/designer from Dublin, living in Newcastle. She’s pattern and colour obsessed and works across a range of media including LED light and sculpture.
‘I’m interested in how visual art can be used to spark joy, communicate visual languages, elicit emotional responses and improve mental health. My recent work considers the application of colour and pattern on our cities/everyday surroundings and also the lack of it.
I explore ideas through making sculpture, painting, artist books, printmaking and curating exhibitions. My studio work is experimentation between surface, space and colour and is usually abstract.
Visual mindfulness is a subject I’m currently researching. Noticing patterns allows the mind to rest and be in the present, to rely on incoming sensory data and not worry about the past or the future for a moment. I enjoy noticing patterns in my environment and also the creation of new patterns.’
She’s also an arts organiser and since 2018 has run a project called The Spaghetti Factory with Eve Cromwell, which aims to support early career artists in the North East. She’s the grassroots artist rep for The Clayton Street Corridor (a new cultural creative zone in development in Newcastle), vice-chair of a-n Artist Council 2022-2025 and works as Producer for Communities at Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art on the Neighbourly programme, which uses welcoming practices and creative processes to support people seeking sanctuary in the North East.
“We have five fantastic nurseries located across the city each offering exceptional childcare and education for children aged from three months to five years old.
We pride ourselves on making our nurseries happy and safe places for children to be. We offer an abundance of fun and exciting learning opportunities within high quality, safe and secure environments.
With a strong emphasis on promoting a home from home environment Shieldfield offers outstanding specialised care for babies and children under two years. Our play space is well designed, with open access to the outdoors and offers a wide range of exciting play and learning opportunities to support the development of our youngest children.’
Our toddler and pre-school rooms are exceptional, each boasting well designed environments with high quality resources. Each room offers a fantastic range of exciting play and learning opportunities ensuring your child has fun, is happy, confident and reaches their full potential.”
The NewBridge Project is supported by Arts Council England, Newcastle Culture Investment Fund, Newcastle University’s Institute for Creative Arts Practice and the North of Tyne Combined Authority.
