Jackie Fretten: Painter

 

 

I spent my childhood between the stark beauty of the Yorkshire Moors, the wildness of the North East coastland and the industry of British Steel, I then chose to seek my fortune in London.

 

I have always wished to progress as an artist, either through my interest in contemporary design or as a painter but ended up working in the media industry and for the most part as a TV producer at Saatchi and Saatchi. Afterwards I also spent a couple of years studying garden design at Capel Manor College.

 

Relocating to Lewes, East Sussex, 19 years ago, became my opportunity to focus on developing my art practice; most recently I moved down the road to Seaford where my studio is now based.

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My Practice: Painter and Printmaker

Casting a curious and playful eye around my home and surroundings, my practice is rooted in the place I live, drawing on everyday objects, botanical forms and landscapes visited, that resonate with my daily life.

 

Through painting, I explore  both the observed and the re-imagined, often simplifying and rendering images flat, so that I can play more freely with composition, rhythm, scale and perspective;  creating semi-abstracted forms that capture my emotional response to a subject.

 

In the studio my work is deeply material-led, an organic and physical process involving mapping out shapes and spaces with collage fragments, mixing and layering colour and scraping back into paint to reveal pattern or line.

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​Printmaking is an integral part of this creative process, it continuously informs my painting, and vice versa, creating a cyclical relationship that allows me to explore new ideas.

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Selected Exhibitions

2026 Brighton Open Houses at Imogen Heath Interiors

2025 Artwave Lewes

2024 Artwave Lewes

2020 Glyndeboune Gallery 94 'Fairground' exhibition curated by Nerissa Taysom

2020 '@128 elsewhere' virtual group show on Instagram (as part of MAFA)

2020 'Fragmented' Group show, room 128, Brighton University (as part of MAFA)

2018 Selected for the Towner Sussex Open

2018 Selected for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition curated by Grayson Perry RA

2018 Mixed Exhibition at Keizer Gallery for Lewes Artwave

2016 Affordable Art Fair, Stockholm with Four Square Fine Arts

2015 Affordable Art Fair Hampstead, London with Four Square Fine Arts

2014 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition (Small Weston Room curated by Gus Cummins RA)

 

 

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