Statement
My work is a celebration of female beauty and fashion with a psychological slant and wry humour. I make paintings and drawings which depict women wearing beautiful clothes, who are not all they seem.
I am concerned with the complexity of female identity and the importance of adornment. Beautiful clothes can make us feel both better and worse about ourselves. We have intimate relationships with clothes - we wear them every day, they can soothe and contain and empower us but they can also shine a light on a less than accepting relationship with ourselves. With a longstanding love of fashion, especially the exquisite craftsmanship of haute couture, I make images mined from fashion magazines such as Vogue that depict idealised beauties wearing exquisite clothes, maidens who seem slightly off-kilter in some way and want you to know it.
I obtained a First class Fine Art degree from Chelsea College of Arts in 2007 and exhibited widely until the last ten years when I trained as a counsellor using the arts and a psychotherapist, receiving my Masters in 2022. I now make art from my home studio in Kent.
Biography
Education
Jungian Arts based Research (Jungian Society for Scholarly Studies) Oct-Nov 2025
MSc Psychotherapy (with Distinction), Metanoia Institute / University of Middlesex 2022
PG Cert Counselling using the Arts, Institute for Arts in Therapy and Education 2016
BA Fine Art (First class Honours), Chelsea College of Art 2004-2007
Diploma in Foundation Studies, Chelsea College of Art 1999-2000
Exhibitions
Annual Open, Southwark Park Galleries, London 21 November - 12 December 2026
ING Discerning Eye, selected by Polly Morgan, Mall Galleries, London November 2025
Annual Open, Southwark Park Galleries, London November - December 2025
Your Work Here, The Amelia Scott, Tunbridge Wells, Kent February - June 2025
Gap in exhibitions due to Arts and Psychotherapy training
Summer show, Art Psychotherapy exhibition, IATE, Islington, London June 2016
31st Annual Open, CPG Gallery, Southwark, London August 2015
Zeitgeist Summer Exhibition curated by Rosalind Davis, Bond House gallery, New Cross, London 10-12 July 2014
Work in Progress, tribute to James Joyce and his collaborators by Sumi Perera & co, exhibited Nicosia, Cyprus and Bankside, London, June/ July 2014
Project Two Thousand and Fourteen, online collaboration by Nicola Fitzsimmons, Jan-Dec 2014 (contribution 13 April 2014)
First Come First Served, Lion & Lamb Gallery, Hoxton, London 15 Dec 2013-11 Jan 2014
ZAP Open 2013 (part of Deptford X Arts Festival) selected by Susan Collis, Graham Crowley, Rosalind Davis, Annabel Tilley, Bond House Gallery, New Cross, London 26 Sept-5 Oct 2013
I am the Warrior, (a Juneau Projects event with Worcester Open), Worcester Museum & Art Gallery, Worcester, 13-27 July 2013
Zeitgeist Summer Exhibition curated by Rosalind Davis, Bond House Gallery, New Cross, London 18-20 July 2013
Modern Beauties, Grade 2 listed building, SE London, 8-11 May 2013
400 Women, Shoreditch Town Hall, London 2010, touring exhibition - Amsterdam 2012
Home, Two Chelsea graduates, with Jeremy Evans, Grade II listed building, Blackheath, London, February 2008
inconclusion, Islington Arts Factory, London 2008
Forget me, Gristle Mountain artists’ collective, Fort Brockhurst, Hampshire 2008
Top 25 London Graduates, Salon Contemporary, Westbourne Grove London 2007
Xhibit, University of the Arts, London 2006
Performance Series, Waterstone’s Booksellers, London 2005
Xhibit, University of the Arts, London 2000
Publications
Transition Gallery Editions: Arty 24 – ‘Entertainment’ curated by Cathy Lomax
Work in private collections in the US and Europe
Contact
Email: janearchertownsend@gmail.com
Social Media
Instagram: @the_tailored_self