Jennifer Tazewell Mawby works with invented narrative cycles and across drawing and painting, sculptural and video/sound installation. Projects may continue for many years and be added upon in the way a writer or a film maker may release a sequel or a prequel to an original blockbuster. Within her story lines, the character driven and predominately figurative works are idiosyncratic and often humorous with the characters worlds composited from history, literature, science fiction, and archeology. Formal references are equally stolen from science fiction and fantasy literature as from social media. Mawby’s work has been exhibited in Canada, the U.S., Australia, and the U.K. Her work has been included in recent publications such as Art Maze and the inaugural issue of Art in Square magazines. Jennifer is a director and a co-founder of Vantage Art Projects (Vancouver, BC) and a co-founder of P2P Curatorial.
Jennifer holds an honours Masters of Fine Art jointly awarded by OCA and University for the Creative Arts (UCA) in the U.K. She received her BA Classical Studies from the University of British Columbia, completed the Management Skills for Advanced Technology (MSAT) program at Simon Fraser University, and the Fine Art Techniques Certificate at Emily Carr University of Art and Design (both in Vancouver).
She has participated in the Turps Banana painting program (2018-2020) (London, UK), and studied with The Royal Drawing School (London, UK), and The New Art School‘s global mentorship program (London, UK). Jennifer is an enthusiastic member of the New York City Crit Club and is currently participating in the 2022-2023 Node Center International Curatorial Program. In 2022 Jennifer co-founded P2P Curatorial, a curatorial collective of artists based in Canada and the United States.
Portrait by Rennie Brown. Contact by email.
ABOUT THE WORK
I use figuration as a way to explore human psychology, social and cultural expectations, and technological advancements with a feminist perspective. I am uneasy about the proliferation of revisionist and ahistorical tendencies in contemporary culture and I employ storytelling to connect the past, present, and future. I use the portrait as a vehicle for inventing characters that are in conversation with age-old archetypes. I work in narrative cycles, sometimes simultaneously and much like a film-maker. These generative, and ongoing bodies of work inform each other while being individually connected to specific themes. As an artist of my time, I am further interested in referencing contemporary culture and the implications of our current position at the intersection of the analog and the digital technologies.
My interest in community building, dialogue and collaboration through publishing and utilizing technology are expressed through my work with Vantage Art Projects which I see as a social extension of my studio practice.
I maintain a reading, watching, and listening list for resources and research related to my practice.
CV – JENNIFER TAZEWELL MAWBY
SELECT EXHIBITIONS/PROJECTS/FLAT FILES/SCREENINGS
2024 – Cosmologic, Heaven Gallery, Chicago. P2P Curatorial. (February)
2022 – Cosmologic, Curiouser, Kansas City. P2P Curatorial. (June)
2022 – Bailey House: Benefit Auction, New York (May) Link to Artsy
2022 – The Female Gaze, Manifold Global, Pennsylvania (www.manifoldglobal.com) (March)
2021 – Stories, Isadore and Dunn, Brooklyn, NY (Oct-Dec)
2021 – Markings, Isadore and Dunn, Brooklyn, NY (July)
2021 – Nikkei Museum Vitrine Gallery, Burnaby, BC (April)
2021 – Invited artist The Drawing Exchange (@thedrawingexchange)
2021 – Shrine Gallery Group Show, online project, Shrine Gallery, New York, NY
2021 – Deanna Evan Projects, Flat Files, New York, NY (@deannaevansprojects)
2020 – World Series Pop Up, Flat Files, San Diego, CA (@worldseriessd)
2020 – GIFC Worldwide Hot Paper – Flat Files, Oslo, NO (@gifcworldwide)
2020 – New York City Crit Club Flat Files. New York, NY (@nyccritclubflatfiles)
2020 – Selected for Murmuración, printmaking installation organized by Andrea deBruijn and Heather J. A. Thomson. Group. SGCI PUERTOGRAFICO 2020, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
2019 – Friends and Family. Group. Daine Singer Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria AU (Nov 1 – Dec 20)
2019 – Platform Center, Winnipeg Man, Video screening evening of video work “The Liquid Gesture”
2019 – Flat Rate Contemporary 4, Flat Files. Group. (Oct – Nov)
2017 – “Got it for Cheap“. Group. 23 works on paper travelling with this project: Macaulay Fine Art (MFA), Vancouver BC; Chart ArtFair, Copenhagen; The Hole, NYC; 0-0 LA, Los Angeles; Rod Bianco Gallery, Oslo, Norway; R/SF Projects, San Francisco, CA.
2014 – “The Healing Room” MA Fine Art Thesis. Solo presentation. “The Nine Exhibition”, Bank Street Art Centre, Sheffield, UK
2013 – “The Human Animal”. Group. Gallery B, Cumberland, BC (September 2013).
2012 – “The Aviary” – Solo. Quinary Art Projects, Vancouver BC (July). Curated by Wesley Yuen.
2011 – “Give & Take” – (e)merge Artist Platform Series. Art Fair Invited Project Artist. Washington, DC (Sept. 22-25/11)
2010 – “The Sun, The Moon & The Stars” – Solo. Grace Gallery, Vancouver BC, Canada (September)
2009 – 10″x10″ – Gallery Atsui. Group. Vancouver BC, Canada (December)
2009 – “The Love Letter Show”. Group. Grace Gallery, Vancouver BC, Canada (February)
2009 – “Let Them Eat Cake”. Group. Gallery Atsui, Vancouver BC, Canada (February)
PUBLISHING AND BOOK PROJECTS
2021 – Vantage Art Projects, 2021-Q1 Editorial Release (online) – editor and editorial director.
2020 – Vantage Art Projects, 2020-Q4 Editorial Release (online) – editor and editorial director.
2017-2019 – Byron Aceman Collection – Book curation, editor and designer for private collection with essays commissioned by Doretta Lau and Lee Henderson
2010 – “Lateral Learning” – Curated by Paul Butler with critical essays by Dr. Jeanne Randolph & Mark Clintberg (Editor & Publisher)
MAJOR COMMISSIONS
2014 – Bastion Development, Vancouver BC (Opsal Project)
2010 – Bastion Development, Vancouver BC (Pulse Project)
2009 – Bastion Development, Vancouver BC (Coast Project)
2009 – Bastion Development, Vancouver BC (Coast Project)
2007 – Bastion Development, Vancouver, BC (Corus Project)
CURATORIAL, PROFESSIONAL & JURY APPOINTMENTS
2022 – Apexart Jury Member, reviewing open call curatorial submissions (November)
2022 – Founding member of P2P Curatorial
2020-2022 – Director and editor, Vantage Art Projects online magazine and exhibitions (relaunched as VAP 2020)
2019-present – Board Advisor, The Contemporary Art Society of Vancouver (casv.ca)
2008-2020 – Collection manager for Byron Aceman private collection
2016-2019 – President and Board Chair, The Contemporary Art Society of Vancouver (casv.ca)
2013 – Fresh Picks Editions, co-curator. Back Gallery Project, Vancouver BC (November/December)
2008 – onwards – Co-Director Programming & Curatorial Projects, Vantage Art Projects
2009-2010- CODE Live, Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad, Consultant (Communications & Docent Program)
2007 -2010 – Vice-President & Programming Chair, The Contemporary Art Society of Vancouver
SELECT EDUCATION/RESIDENCIES/AWARDS/ARTIST TALKS
2022-2023 – International Curatorial Program, Node Center for Curatorial Studies. Berlin, Germany.
2022 – Artist Talk for Cosmologic, Curiouser, Kansas City. P2P Curatorial. (June)
2022 – Artist Talk for The Female Gaze, Manifold Global, Pennsylvania (www.manifoldglobal.com) (March)
2022- Multidisciplinary masterclass residency w/Tai Shani and Florence Peake. Camp, Toulouse, France. Grant recipient. (July-August)
2022 – Artist Talk with Allison Moyers for The Female Gaze Exhibition at Manifold Global (12 April 2022)
2021- Anderson Ranch Painting Masterclass w/Elizabeth Glaessner, Snowmass, CO, USA
2021 – Sound, Language and Position. Advanced Sound Workshop w/Antye Greie (aka AGF), CAMP FR
2021 – Hide and Seek Painting with Vicky Wright, ESOP. London, UK
2021 – Joseph Albers Interactions of Colours, 92Y w/Fritz Horstman, New York, USA
2020-2021 – New Art School mentorship w/ Paul Becker (UK)
2020-2021 – Royal Drawing School, various courses, London, UK (May-June)
2019-2021 – New York Crit Club & Independent Study Program. New York, USA.
2018-2020 – Turps Banana correspondence painting Program. London, UK.
2014 – Masters of Fine Art (Honours) – OCA/University for the Creative Arts, UK
2007 – “Art Talk” w/Lucy Hogg – Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Vancouver, BC
2007 – Gregory Heisler, Intensive Photography Masterclass Workshop, Vancouver BC
2006 – Mary Ellen Mark, Intensive Photography Masterclass Workshop, Vancouver BC
2005 – Fine Art Techniques Certificate – Emily Carr University of Art and Design. Vancouver, BC
SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY
2021 – Arts in Square Magazine, Issue 1 (September)
2021 – Art Maze Magazine, Issue 22. Curated by Fabiola Alondra & Jane Harmon. Fortnight Institute, NYC
2020 – Seductive Strangers in the paintings of Jennifer Mawby, Vantage Art Projects 2020-Q4, written by Hannah Antalek. (Nov. 20, 2020)
2020 – Jano Lapin Art Online, When art goes beyond the canvas (March 2, 2020)
2018 – Make8elieve Art Magazine , Issue 13 “Charts and Graphs” – digital drawings featured: “Factions Mixed on Urban Renewal” (2017), and “Triangulation Tactics” (2017) (featured artist).
2018 – 1340Art Magazine – digital drawing featured “Optimism Rebounds in Early Returns” (2017) (featured artist)
2014 – UK show for graduates of Europe’s first distance learning MA (pressat.com, November 11, 2014)
2011 – “(E)merge art fair adapts site’s form and function” by Philip Kennicott, The Washington Post (Sept. 23, 2011)
2012 – Quinary Art Projects presents a solo project with Jennifer Mawby, The Aviary Golden Brush Art (July 16, 2012)
2010 – “Straight Choices” 11th Annual SWARM Festival, The Georgia Straight (September 9-16, 2010, p. 52)
2010 – “Seeing More Than ‘Stars’ in Provocative Jennifer Mawby Exhibit at Vancouver’s Grace Gallery” by Paul Niemi on Uncle Paulie’s World
2010 – Interview with Jennifer Mawby by Kari Barett – Grace-Gallery Tumblr
2009 – “Vancouver Review” – Fall 2009 Issue (Featured Centrefold Artist)
2009 – “Stone Soup” Interview by Mike Landry – Things of Desire (blog) – (June 11)
2009 – “Stone Soup Preview” by Mia Weinberg, Preview The Gallery Guide, Vancouver BC – (June)
2009 – “Architecture for Humanity Art Auction at the Grace Gallery” The Georgia Straight (April 2/09)
2009 – “Let Them Eat Cake” by Jennifer Moss – Vancouver Sun, Vancouver BC – (Feb. 12)
2009 – “Vantage Art Projects” by Samantha Langton, ION Magazine – (# 54, Feb.)
2006 – Exhibition Review – The Peninsula News, Sidney BC – (Aug.2)
2006 – Hycroft Artist Talk Review – Metro News, Vancouver BC – (Jan.15)
2006 – “One Shot” – Published by Visual Codex, Portland ORE (Curated Artist)