ABOUT
Jenna Waldren (b. 1999) is a figurative and portrait artist based in North London. Her work observes her immediate surroundings, acting as an almost autobiography: documenting glimmers of her daily life. These snapshots frequently capture friends and loved ones, celebrating the beauty of human connection.
In other works, Waldren turns the lens on herself, in an attempt to process particular emotions or changes in her life. Using drawing, painting and printmaking in a careful and tender manner, her work experiments with the balance of the graphic versus the painterly, juxtaposing bold lines against delicate, detailed areas of focus.
AWARDS
Winner of the BTA Rising Star Award 2024
Longlisted for the Scottish Portrait Award, 2023
Winner of the London First Prize Arts Depot Open, 2018
EDUCATION
Intensive Drawing Course, Royal Drawing School, 2023
First Class, BA (Hons) Painting, The University of Edinburgh / Edinburgh College of Art, 2017- 2021
Photograph of Jenna Waldren at the Mutual Co-Op (Edinburgh) Studio, taken by photographer Julia McKenzie, 2023
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024
(Upcoming) December Exhibition, Proposition, Chalk Farm, London
(Upcoming) October Exhibition, WASPS Studios, Edinburgh
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Chelsea Art Society 75th Annual Exhibition, Chelsea, London
All in Good Time, 92 Degrees, Hanover Street, Edinburgh
Drawing Open, No Format Gallery, London
This is Earthly Stuff, AMP Gallery, London
2023
Paining Open, No Format Gallery, London
Group Portrait, Whitespace Gallery, Edinburgh
The Feelings Mutual, Sett Studios, Edinburgh
2022
SSA 130 YEARS, SSA, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
GUT, Whitespace Gallery, Edinburgh
Differing Parallels, Insight School of Art, London
Closing Exhibition, We are Sweet Art, The Bypass Gallery, London
Book Project, Tebbs Gallery, Virtual Exhibition
Tenderfoot, St Margret's House, Edinburgh
The grass is always greener on the Sa-Lawn, Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh
Border Art Fair, SSA, Jedburgh
The Hen Collective Retrospective, Blunt Knife Gallery, Edinburgh
RE-KNEW'ED, Dundas Street Gallery, Edinburgh
2021​
Young Artists Summer Exhibition, Arts Depot, London​
Youth in Lockdown, Brink Art Gallery Virtual Exhibition
Degree Show, Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh
Graduate Show, Edinburgh College of Art, Virtual Exhibition​
Collective Creation, GUM Magazine, Virtual Exhibition
Printmaking Volume 1, Rafiki Gallery, Virtual Exhibition
Carbon Copies, Virtual Exhibition
2020
The Rattlecap: Pop up Exhibition, Wee Red Bar, Edinburgh
New Becoming Normal, Portobello
Art and the Playfair Library, Speaking to Absent Voices, University of Edinburgh’s Centre for Research Collections (CRC), Virtual Exhibition- https://www.art-playfair-library.is.ed.ac.uk/jenna-waldren/
2019
Filling Voids, Edinburgh College of Art, Edinburgh
Bookmarks, ECA Fire Station, Edinburgh
E.01, Whitespace Gallery, Edinburgh
She_Exhibition, Virtual Exhibition
2018
Arts Depot Open, Arts Depot, London
Untitled DOKument', DOK Artist Space, Edinburgh
FEATURES
(Upcoming) Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year, 2024​
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None of yer Business Podcast, Episode 5, 2023
https://open.spotify.com/episode/59vkL9E16VP0xtnHpUtsot?si=8b6a565d847a46df
Triptych Magazine, Feature in Issue 2, 2023 https://triptychmag.files.wordpress.com/2023/01/triptych-issue-2-january-2023-7.pdf ​
Local Supporting Local Podcast, 2022
https://open.spotify.com/episode/7Bm5PbdGL2ZaBWTJws9I8U?si=adfb718b2570412c
Interview with The Hen Collective, 2022
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz27BpTJz18
Artist of the Week, The Edi Mag, 2022
https://www.theedimagazine.com/post/artist-of-the-week-jenna-waldren
Interview with Cass Art, 2021
https://www.cassart.co.uk/blog/jenna-waldren-discusses-lockdown-and-returning-to-university.htm
The Playfair Library Project, 2021
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JUaxZHp8FQ
Arts Depot Open Article, 2018
https://www.times-series.co.uk/news/16411003.artsdepot-open-four-artists-honoured-exhibition/
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023
The Art of Living, Cass Art Islington, London
2022
The Hen Collective Presents: Jenna Waldren, Babka Cafe, Edinburgh
Photographs of Jenna Waldren's studio space at the Mutual Co-Op (Edinburgh) Studios, taken by photographer Julia McKenzie, 2023