North Pennines

Janet Kenyon is an award winning watercolour artist who as gained an enviable reputation for her innovative use of watercolour.

Over the course of her career, Janet has received an impressive number of accolades, including winner of the prestigious Royal Watercolour Society/Sunday Times/Smith & Williamson Cityscape Prize in 2009 and the Regional Laing Watercolour Competition, while still a student.

Born and brought up in Bolton, Lancashire in 1959. In 1975 she studied for two years at Bolton College of Art & Design. In 1977 she moved away from Bolton to study at Leeds Polytechnic and later gained a B.A. Hons. in Graphic Design. It was here she began to experiment in watercolour and ever since as continued to push the boundaries of this very difficult medium.

For Janet it’s the capturing of natural & artificial light, in her paintings, and the way it interacts with the landscape, alongside the unexpected perspective and sense of space, that ignites her imagination.

Janet’s highly individual and distinctive landscapes have been exhibited in many leading galleries including the Mall Galleries, London, The Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh and The Lowry Gallery, Salford and can also be found in private collections in the UK and abroad.

Awards

1995 1st prize winner of the Greater Manchester Arts Award
1997 1st prize winner of the Northern Region Laing Watercolour competition, Manchester
2000 1st prize winner of the Laing Watercolour Landscape competition Critics prize, London
2009 1st prize winner of the Smith & Williamson, Cityscape Prize in the RWS/Sunday Times Watercolour competition
2009 1st prize winner of the Kent Valley Award in the Lake Artists Society Competition
2009, 2012 & 2013 prize winner in the Cumbrian Open Competition
2010 2nd prize winner of the St Cuthbert’s Mill Award in the Royal Watercolour Society Open Competition
2010 1st prize winner of the Cumbria Life, Lake Artists Society prize
2011 1st prize winner of the Cumbrian Open Competition
2011 1st prize winner of the RWS Bankside Gallery/Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer Purchase prize
2014 1st prize winner of the Cumbrian Open Competition

Solo Exhibitions

1980 – Salford City Art Gallery, Manchester
1985 – Bury Art Gallery & Museum
1996 – The Lowry Art Gallery, Manchester
2008 – Upfront Gallery, Penrith
2009 – Heron Theatre, Cumbria
2010 – Octagon Theatre, Bolton
2014 – Upfront Gallery, Penrith

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