MELANIE JORDAN

Email: [email protected]

Artist Melanie Jordan is based in rural Kent. She has exhibited throughout the UK and internationally, including in Vienna, Berlin, and Stockholm. She has shown her work at Turner Contemporary in Margate. She was awarded an MA in Fine Art from The University for the Creative Arts in 2020. She is an active member of the arts organisation ArtCan, co-curating a textile exhibition in London with them earlier this year. She relishes being involved in community arts projects, and has lead stitching projects for Bemix, The Rural Kent Coffee and Information Project, and The Abbey Physic Garden in Faversham.
 
Melanie’s art practice is very tactile and haptic, with thread-based crafts at its core. Such slow repetitive activities allow for reflective thought, being absorbing almost to the point of monotony. The process of making is embedded in Melanie's work, and for her is as important as the outcome. Melanie's artwork regularly pays attention to maternal ambivalence; the tension between the need to nurture, and feelings of entrapment in motherhood. Her work is informed by her personal perspective of being a mother of an adult with a learning disability, where the mother-child relationship becomes stuck in a dependent phase. 
 
Melanie uses vintage fabric, thread, wool and even unfinished knitting projects in her artwork. She also enjoys experimenting with natural dyes; using plants from her garden to create soft muted shades that contrast with thought provoking underlying themes. 

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