Jenna’s Story

Jenna has been coming to Henshaws Arts and Crafts Centre for over 12 years. She has participated in many workshops and has been a key part in lots of exhibitions.

12 Years at Henshaws

Jenna Has been coming to Henshaws for over 12 years and boy is she a key part of the Henshaws family!

Jenna participates in our paper, pottery, print, mosaic and drama workshops. She also volunteers at every event she can and puts her all into getting the most out of her time here at the Arts and Crafts Centre. 

Jenna faces every day head on and rarely lets anything get in her way of being an absolute superstar. Her makaton (Jennas preferred way of communication) is growing all the time. Over the past twelve years she has grown in independence, confidence and artistic talent to become one of Henshaws most productive Art Makers.

Papier-mache Workshop

Jennas favourite workshop is papier-mache in our art studio. Her favourite piece she has made recently is her papier-mache swan. Jenna starts by drawing on her iPad and then she translates it through into sculpture. She then covers it in papier-mache and finally paints it. It’s a drawn out process which takes hours to complete and also requires a lot of skill. 

Workshop Leaders Sharon and Shaeron Says…

‘Jenna has a keen eye for popular culture and is usually bang on trend with the art pieces she designs and creates. Jenna loves printing. Her prolific output includes tea towels, tote bags and greetings cards which prove popular and retail well. She is experienced at printing linocut and silkscreen to a very high standard. Her designs are graphic, bold and show strong form which translates well to papier-mache and she has made a couple of beautiful swans. The designs have also been used to create mosaics showing her increasing breadth of knowledge of various processes and techniques. Jenna has also worked hard to improve her drawing skills using her IPad – this has enabled her to have increased ownership to her work and ideas. Her creative intentions are clear and the unrelenting quest for perfection culminates in some beautiful art work.’

Mythical Beasts Exhibition

Jennas work has also been exhibited in our ‘Mythical Beasts’ project. Which was a collaboration with the Hart Club in London. The exhibition took place at Knaresbrough Castle with thanks to the Mercer Gallery allowing us to take over the castle for the summer.

She was one of the most prolific artists we included, not only creating a vast amount of work but also work that scoped all medias of the exhibition. Her love of unicorns fed into all media and included mosaic unicorn heads, printed t-shirts, ceramic bowls and 3 dimensional models like the one pictured above.

Her designs proved very popular with the public and Jenna sold several pieces and prints.

As if Jenna couldn’t get more integral to the Arts and Crafts Centre, she recently performed in our variety show signing the words to a whole new world. 

Jennas work can be found proudly on display in our shop so please come down and take a look. If you’re lucky enough you might even get a chance to see Jenna at work!