Artist research Jeni Cairns-Castle brief

 Artist research Jeni Cairns 

I came Jeni Cairns who is an award-winning artist and garden designer based in rural Cambridgeshire. Cairns is known for her metal sculptures and intricate filigree metal panels that depict the beauty and fragility of nature. She often utilises reclaimed materials in her work, like metal oil drums, creating pieces that exhibit both delicacy and strength.

What I really like about the layering in Cairns’ Song Thrush' piece is how it gives the artwork a sense of depth and life. Instead of just being a flat image, the layers make it feel more like the bird is sitting within its environment—almost like it's part of a little hidden world which is what I am trying to capture with my own piece.

The way she cuts and arranges the metal means that when light shines through it, it casts beautiful, detailed shadows. These shadows change depending on where the light is coming from, which adds a magical, ever-changing quality to the piece. It’s almost like the scene is moving, and that really draws you in. The contrast between the solid parts and the negative space lets the light paint shapes on the wall behind it, which makes the whole artwork feel alive.

Jeni Cairns- Song thrush