Zena Blackwell

'The domestic setting is beautiful, still, and a touch awkward.' - Sacha Craddock (art critic, writer, curator)

Zena Blackwell is an award-winning figurative painter based in Cardiff, Wales, UK, working primarily in oil paint and exhibiting regularly both nationally and internationally. She obtained her MFA at Central Saint Martins; BA at Wimbledon School of Art and most recently completed the Turps Correspondence Course. A year after resuming her painting practice following a lengthy break, Zena won first prize at the Cardiff MADE Summer Open 2017, presenting a very well received first solo show there the following year. She was also awarded 3rd prize at PS Mirabel's open exhibition 'PAINT' (Manchester) in 2019 and has been shortlisted for the Royal Academy Summer Show and BEEP Painting Prize. Her work is held in the permanent collection of the National Library of Wales and in many private collections globally. Zena founded the instagram blog Contemporary Cymru in 2017 and between 2003-2011, she co-founded a critically acclaimed live music event in London and also DJed nationally and internationally.

Zena's paintings investigate various themes pertaining to childhood; be it her own experience of childhood and parenthood or general observations of her own two children. Children can be strange and beautiful but also funny and melancholy. The presence of children in her work provides glimpses into imagination, fantasy, story-telling and sometimes surrealism, Identity and gender definitions.

Education
Turps Correspondence Course
MA Fine Art Central Saint Martins, London, UK
BA Fine Art (hons) Wimbledon College of Art, London, UK

Collections
National Library of Wales
Work in private collections in USA, France, Japan, Australia and UK.

Awards and Grants
2024 Shortlisted for the BEEP Painting Prize
2022 Shortlisted for the BEEP Painting Prize
2021 Shortlisted for the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2021
Arts Council of Wales 'Create' Award of £2025 for Turps Correspondence Course 2021-22
2020 Arts Council of Wales £10,000 awarded to Contemporary Cymru for HOUSEHOLD NAME
Arts Council of England £3,800 awarded to Contemporary Cymru for HOUSEHOLD NAME
2019 3rd prize PAINT at PS Mirabel, Manchester
2018 Arts Council of Wales Grant of £5000 towards the cost of 'Seen Not Heard'
2017 1st prize Cardiff MADE Summer Open

PAST EXHIBITIONS

SOLO SHOWS:
2022 A Delicate Balance : Solo show at Canfas, Cardigan
2018 Seen Not Heard: Solo Exhibition at Cardiff MADE, Cardiff

GROUP SHOWS:
2024
Primal : Tribal : Beats at Studio Cennen, Llandeilo
Rejects (celebration of work overlooked by the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition), Art Friend, Stokey Pop Up, London
Made in Roath Open at g39, Cardiff
Y Lle Celf, National Eisteddfod, Rhondda Cynon Taf
Arcade Campfa Studio Show, Art Market, Cardiff

2023
Latent Dreaming: AucArt x SeeFood Room at SeeFood Room, Hong Kong
Through the Looking Glass - Aucart Group Show, Fitzrovia Gallery, London
New Wave - Spitalfields Studios, London
SOTA Marketplace : Accessible Art Fair, The Lab, London
Resilience - Annual Spring Show - Cardiff MADE
Human : Nature - Studio Cennen, Llandeilo
Best of the Solo Art Prize winners exhibition, Cardiff MADE
2022
Art on a Postcard Auction, The Bomb Factory, Covent Garden, London
THE OTHER ART FAIR, Truman Brewery, London
A Generous Space, Hastings Contemporary, Hastings
A Room of Her Own, Irving Contemporary, Oxford
BEEP Painting Prize 2022, Elysium Gallery, Swansea
Collecting - exhibition of new acquisitions at The National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth
Otherworlds at Cardiff MADE, Cardiff
A Women's Place is Everywhere, The Cello Factory, London
Draw : Wales, Wales Week in London
I contributed a drawing for a sketchbook feat. work by prominent Welsh artists inc. Shani Rhys James & Kevin Sinnott auctioned for Velindre
Made in Roath open @g39, Cardiff
The Sketchbook at Llantarnum Grange, Cwmbran
Y Lle Celf, National Eisteddfod, Tregaron, Cardigan
Body, Stitch, Soul at Studio Cennen, Llandeilo
A Celebration of Welsh Contemporary Painting at Red House, Merthyr Tydfil
Ebb and Flow, Studio Cennen, Llandeilo
Catalyst: Painters from the Turps Banana Correspondence Course, Oriel Canfas, Cardiff
The Hearth Gallery, Llandough Hospital
City Hospice Charity Auction - Roger Jones & Co, Cardiff
Poems, Psalms & Song, Studio Cennen, Llandeilo
Cardiff MADE Winter Open
Celebration of Contemporary Welsh Painting, Pierhead Futures Gallery, Cardiff Bay
2021
Truth : Myth : Dreams at Studio Cennen, Llandeilo
Cardiff MADE Winter Exhibition at Cardiff MADE, Cardiff
Without Borders - Elysium Gallery (the exhibition traveled to Japan, Norway, USA, Venice, Canada, and back to Wales)
Household Name Virtual Exhibition
Household Name: Group show curated by Contemporary Cymru
Elysium Gallery, Swansea with Laura Ford, Cherry Pickles, Zoë Gingell, Fern Thomas, Adele Vye and Raji Salan
Cambium at Cardiff MADE