JENNA PACKER

1. JENNA PACKER, Carnival (2010), acrylic on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 762 x 1015 x 37 mm

1. DETAIL VIEW JENNA PACKER, Carnival (2010)

2. JENNA PACKER, Anniversary Day (2010), acrylic on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 761 x 1015 x 32 mm

2. DETAIL VIEW JENNA PACKER, Anniversary Day (2010)

3. JENNA PACKER, Supply Lines (2010), acrylic on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 916 x 1120 x 32 mm

3. DETAIL VIEW JENNA PACKER, Supply Lines (2010)

4. JENNA PACKER, The Engagement (2010), acrylic on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 557 x 709 x 37 mm

4. DETAIL VIEW JENNA PACKER, The Engagement (2010)

5. JENNA PACKER, The Incident (2010), acrylic on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 558 x 709 x 37 mm

5. DETAIL VIEW JENNA PACKER, The Incident (2010)

6. JENNA PACKER, Quadrille (2010), acrylic on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 558 x 710 x 37 mm

6. DETAIL VIEW JENNA PACKER, Quadrille (2010)

7. JENNA PACKER, Rescue of the Good Fortune (2010), acrylic on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 559 x 712 x 37 mm

7. DETAIL VIEW JENNA PACKER, Rescue of the Good Fortune (2010)

8. JENNA PACKER, Pataka (2010), acrylic on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 558 x 710 x 37 mm

8. DETAIL VIEW JENNA PACKER, Pataka (2010)

9. JENNA PACKER, Souvenir (2010), acrylic on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 557 x 710 x 37 mm

9. DETAIL VIEW JENNA PACKER, Souvenir (2010)

10. JENNA PACKER, Clearing (2010), acrylic on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 760 x 1015 x 32 mm

10. DETAIL VIEW JENNA PACKER, Clearing (2010)

11. JENNA PACKER, Provisioning (2010), acrylic on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 760 x 1013 x 32 mm

11. DETAIL VIEW JENNA PACKER, Provisioning (2010)

12. JENNA PACKER, Orokonui High Tide (2010), acrylic on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 759 x 1014 x 32 mm

12. DETAI L VI EW JENNA PACKER, Orokonui High Tide (2010)

13. JENNA PACKER, Beached (2010), acrylic on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 403 x 508 x 37 mm

14. JENNA PACKER, Freshwater (2010), acrylic on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 355 x 455 x 37 mm

15. JENNA PACKER, Downstream (2010), acrylic on canvas, stretcher (v x h x d): 355 x 458 x 37 mm

Sailing ships, war air-balloons, waka, aeroplanes, blimps, Chinese junks and dragon flies take to the skies and sea, on the search for new and abundant lands; provisioning. Jenna Packer reflects on history by creating a painted world, perhaps fantastical, of another dimension.

Amidst vast oceans, pataka (storehouses on posts) offer sustenance to the pioneers, on their long journeys to the unknown. These could be looked upon as marker posts, supply routes, also doubling for the airship docking mast or WWII warning system radar towers. They act as points along the way, to stop, reflect, and renew before carrying on the journey (both physical and psychological).

Oil rigs stand elegantly, like unfinished Eiffel Towers amidst vast ocean - a monument of the industrial age, with so much promise, yet at what cost?

Landforms appear in a number of the works, familiar, and recognisable as the shapes and forms around Otago’s peninsular. Sailing ships and waka travel across water, weaving their way through wild and untamed bush in the work Provisioning, looking for shoreline in which to dock. A single tuft of smoke looms over the dark trees, someone has already claimed their piece of the land. Is this a history that is only now being recorded - a snippet of time forgotten amongst historical accounts of grandeur?

Two waterways meet in Orokonui High Ti de, generating an abundance of provisions. Land has been cleared, trees are felled, and figures fish in the waist deep waters. Land has also been domesticated in Clearing and Beached, where fires burn and huts are erected. By picturing a past, Packer comments about our future; we are always in search for the next discovery, changing the environment to suit our needs, but what happens when we run out of provisions? Or when the natural environment is so manipulated it can no longer be cultivated? Or when there is nowhere new to go?

Jenna Packer’s delicate and detailed works have an illustrative quality that at times crosses the boundaries between painting and drawing. The old world colours speak of the past yet the themes and ideas within her subject matter opens dialogues about provisioning that affect us in our contemporary world and as we look towards the future.

EXHIBITION PRICELIST

JENNA PACKER

Jenna Packer paints metaphorical and alternate histories commenting on journeys of discovery, evolution, the survival instinct of escape, fragility and the endless possibilities of life.

Jenna Packer draws on a lifelong interest in history and the telling of it, and in image making. "I am looking at the past in order to find some clues to what is happening, what to expect and how to live it. This is not just in painting but reading, conversations, thoughts. I keep returning to the period of the 1930’s and to the exodus of people across Europe at the onset on WWII. I want to affirm the fragility and the possibility of life, but the dark shadows which have been in the background – (sometimes as zeppelins or parachutes) keep encroaching further into the pictures." (1)

Jenna Packer is a graduate from the Ilam School of Fine Arts. A painter, printmaker and illustrator she has exhibited in New Zealand, France and Japan.

(1) Jenna Packer, Artist Statement (2009)

lives Waitati

Carnival (2010)

JENNA PACKER

lives Waitati

EDUCATION

1996-97(3months total) La Rouelle Studio (printmaking), France

1996 (July) The Slade School of Art (Fresco), London

1995 Otago Polytechnic School of Couture (Couture), Dunedin

1992 (March – May) Glasgow Print Workshop (printmaking), Glasgow

1989 BA (History) (First-Class Honours), University of Canterbury, Christchurch

1988 Bachelor Fine Arts, Ilam School of Art, Christchurch

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2010 Provisioning, Milford Galleries Dunedin

2009 A History of Flight, Milford Galleries Dunedin

2008 Plant, Gallery on Blueskin, Waitati

2007 The Island, Solander, Wellington

2006 The Island, Milnes Court Gallery, Port Chalmers

1995 Imprints, Ground Essence, Dunedin

1994 Moroccan Notebook, Ground Essence, Dunedin Etchings (solo), Ground Essence, Dunedin

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2009 Southern Landscape, milford galleries queenstown

2008 Etched in Memory, PaperGraphica, Christchurch

Opening, Gallery on Blueskin, Waitati

2007 The Paper Show, The Artists’ Room, Dunedin

Spring Exhibition, Anderson’s Park Art Gallery, Invercargill

The Knowne Worlde Illuminated, Salisbury House Art Gallery, Dunedin

Impressed Atatoi, Wairarapa Museum of Art and History, Masterton

2006 ‘10’, The Print-makers’ Studio, Dunedin

1997 Féte de Papier, Maison de Josianne, Génolac, France

1995 Three Printmakers, Salamander Gallery, Christchurch

Fishing for Camels in the Bush, Arthouse Gallery, Dunedin Arthouse Members Show, Arthouse Gallery, Dunedin

1994 Exposure II (Invited Dunedin Artists), Applied Art NZ, Christchurch Nakhodka – Dunedin – Otaru, Sister Cities Art Exhibition, Otaru, Japan

Five Printmakers, Left Bank Art Gallery, Greymouth

Women Show, Arthouse Gallery, Dunedin

1990 Printmakers Exhibition, Aigantigue Art Gallery, Timaru

Prints: Jenna Packer and Neave Fraser-Davies, CSA Gallery, Christchurch

COLLECTIONS

Work held in private collections in NZ, Australia, UK, Canada, France and Italy