bird song

JenniferKopping

Biography

Jennifer Kopping is a Johannesburg born artist, and design and art educator.

 She currently heads the Foundation in Design course at Greenside Design Center in Johannesburg and is a supervisor to design honours students. Her research interests and the subject of her artworks lie in exploring the narrative thread of the archetypal and mythological. Her artworks also examine the Jungian collective unconscious and her work features many of these universal symbols. 

"My interest lies in Jungian universal symbolism, myth, history and storytelling. I make use of images and symbolism from many cultural sources and re-appropriate them into new narratives. The use of colour, materials and the layering of mazes is an important part of the process of art making. Certain works such as 'The Red Shoes' and 'Bluebeard' are representations and interpretations of universal fairy tales. The use of typography and embroidery act as visual clues that 'thread' and interconnect to form a story and narratives."

In her MA thesis, Jennifer addressed the narrative and commemorative underpinnings in the ceramic works of Wonderboy Nxumalo, Hylton Nel and Grayson Perry. She has also written papers on fine art and design and will be presenting a paper in Milan at the Milan University in October 2009, as the only South African delegate.

Academic Qualifications

• National Teachers Diploma (Johannesburg College of Education) 1979
• BA FA (Honours) (University of South Africa (1993)
• MA FA (University of the Witwatersrand), (2007)

Artworks

As a practicing artist and craft designer Jennifer employs a wide range of techniques in her works; these include embroidery, mosaic, metalwork, etching, painting, drawing and ceramics. Her work is a continual exploration and integration of different materials. Jennifer has also presented workshops on various craft media and has undertaken numerous mosaic projects for the design industry. Jennifer has also participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions. She is a past recipient and winner of the New Signatures award and has works in various corporate and private collections such as Telkom, UNISA, Absa and Liberty Life.