13 Facts About Jenny Cowern

Jenny Cowern was a visual, multi-media artist, who took inspiration from the natural surroundings of her adopted county, Cumbria, to produce some of the most dramatic and lasting images of nature.

Jenny Cowern was born in Worcester, England, on 20 June 1943, the second daughter of artists Raymond Cowern RA and Margaret.

In 1959, Jenny Cowern enrolled at the Brighton College of Art, where her father was Dean of the Art faculty.

In 1965, Jenny Cowern won a David Murray travelling scholarship to paint landscape, and used the opportunity to visit Cumbria where Raymond's mother owned a row of cottages at Langrigg, near Aspatria.

One of these was empty and available for use, despite being derelict with neither water nor electricity, Jenny Cowern used it as a base for her scholarship.

In 1968, Higgs and Jenny Cowern moved to Langrigg and with no assistance and no prior skills eventually saved the three condemned cottages.

Jenny Cowern lived and had studios here for the rest of her life.

In 1979, Jenny Cowern visited a felt exhibition at Abbot Hall, Kendal and bought the accompanying book, written by Mary Burkett, entitled 'The Art of the Feltmaker'.

In 1977, Jenny Cowern won a Northern Arts, Arts Council competition to design a mural for a multi-storey car park at Stockton on Tees.

Jenny Cowern returned to the media of enamel six years later when she received a commission to design and construct a set of murals for the Accident and Emergency Department of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead.

Jenny Cowern interpreted the geological structure of a group of tide-washed pebbles; and captured the spectrum of light as it danced through her windows.

Jenny Cowern had established her stature as an artist, and with exhibitions in Hungary, Norway, Poland, Germany, Denmark and France her international reputation was confirmed.

When people think of Jenny Cowern they have a tendency to think of Felt, but there was much more than Felt, as she herself acknowledged:.