Make it your Own: Jenny Beard
Artist Jenny Beard really made the most of her time living at iQ. Jenny complemented her studies at Leeds Arts University with painting in her room.
“Hi, I’m Jenny, I live in iQ Marsden House in Leeds, and I’m a painter.
Painting for me is a very relaxing exercise, and I feel more like me when I’m painting. It’s a very tactile thing to do, so I stretch all the canvases myself, I mix all the paints myself, and it’s very therapeutic to recreate my sketches from the iPad onto the canvas, and my mind can just wander.
I kinda turned my iQ room into my makeshift studio, because I didn’t always have access to the university studio, and it kind of really made it feel more like my own. It was really great to be able to escape from my room, from focussing on my work, to take my mind off it – hang out with my flatmates in the kitchen, or go to the communal spaces to really get out of any artistic funks I might have been in. So, it was good to get away but still be on the same site.
When I was working in the studio until late, or working on my job, I would come back and the receptionist would be really friendly, and it felt really safe and homely coming back to that. So, anyone who’s working on their side hustle while living at iQ, I would definitely recommend bringing that university work ethic back into your own iQ room, and setting it up to whatever suits you best.
For me, painting is a very relaxing exercise. I feel more like me when I’m painting.
So, for me, it was having my desk in my room set up like an arts studio, and it was great because the rooms at iQ are really – mine was large and it was accommodating and quite nice and simple and clutter-free, to really just focus on what I needed to do.”
You will find some of Jenny’s artwork featured in the Make it your Own campaign – look out for it around your iQ site.
To find out more about Jenny and see her work, visit her website.
