HTAG Guildford - Penny Warden

Penny Warden

Penny has recently been commissioned by Blackburn Cathedral for "a major project of national significance" to be launched in March 2005. This consists of the permanent hanging of 15 x 6ft oils on canvas, representing Christ's final journey to the cross.

Penny, whom a London art dealer recently referred to as "a true original" paints her images with a maximum of spontaneity and energetic expression. To achieve such inspirational work involves risks and accidents, but penny works in partnership with the oil paint, exploiting the accidents in order to forge a new vibrant image out of a familiar well known form.

Penny's unique Ballet Paintings are greatly sought-after and have been bought by an eminent collector of art. Alongside these uplifting figures she also sells to a wide audience her oils and charcoals of Still Life, Flowers and Musical Instruments - the latter having been bought by the opera singer Mark Ainsley and the footballer Dion Dublin.

Penny's versatility as an artist also extends to impressive figurative religious paintings. Her collection known as "The Phoenix Series" based on the Crucificion have been on a solo tour since 2000 of ten cathedrals, many churches and other college chapels throughout England. These are normally displayed down the nave and are exhibited for up to two months. She was commissioned for two of these paintings by St John's Church Waterloo in London, a church renowned for its commitment to the arts.

Penny's religious work was also part of the innovative and exciting national exhibition called "Presence: Images of Christ for the Third Millennium". This is a series of linked exhibitions of contemporary art and installations in six cathedrals during 2004, which includes Anthony Gormley (Angel of the North).

Penny has been interviewed on BBC radio and filmed for a worldwide satellite television broadcast; she has featured in a number of national magazines and publications; she has had her work used by Cambridge University in a major theological project; she has exhibited and spoken about her work at Oxford University; she has been artist in residencee at Gordonstoun School in Scotland and Wycombe Abbey, Buckinghamshire; she has been the guest speaker at her local council Arts Festival, involving thirty local schools; her paintings have been used by a theatre company for various productions; and she has been part of several consultation groups at Windsor Castle on "Human Creativity in the Arts".