This is a copy of JoWonder's profile on British Women Artists which she co-founded with Peter Blue in Feb 2008.

JoWonder born Joanna Woodward, is a writer, animator, visual artist and performer. Her work creates satire from myth and tradition in folklore literature and painting. The playful and absurd worlds visited in fairy-tale are her natural home. Her recent practice and study of Buddhism informs a flamboyant narrative style.

Her animated film 'The Brooch Pin And The Sinful Clasp, was internationally acclaimed and aired on Channel 4 Television; subsequently The Welcome Trust commissioned her to make a painting in bacteria of John Millais Ophelia, she has been a stand up comedian, and more recently, (2016), performed live an extract from her sculpted book at the Phoenix Gallery in Brighton. Jo likes to remain outside of division and remain unclassified.

'There's no one way of looking at JoWonder's work. There's no one way of looking at anything! We only have to shut one eye and you get a different angle, turn our head quickly for another, so imagine (ha) what the brain can do through the lens of our perceptions, our values, memory, body and past. There can also be a backward telescopic journey into childhood, when our imaginations were quite erotic - as a part of our life force- at a time before we become erotic'. Jan Woolf.


Animated Film: The Brooch pin And The Sinful Clasp, 18 minutes running time.

A man falls in love with a ballerina that he sees dancing at the top of a tower block and sets off on a journey to find her, he finds an evil mechanical brooch on a giant 's shawl. Giant played by renowned performance artist Rose English. Winner Grand Priz Zageb Festival and Best Newcomer Cardif animation festival and The Time Out Film Award,UK



Jo started experimental performance work with The Washroom Collective in 2006, who's work typically involves improvisation and audience interaction. Since then, she has trained with the Improbable Theatre Company and explored a surreal stand up comedy persona.

Animated Film: 'Don't Submit To A Moments Passion With A Stranger, running time 1 minute:'




Performance 2014-2015:

A part of 'Sacred And The Profane' and 'A Cabinet Of Wonders,' Hundred Years Gallery, London and'The End Of The Pier Show' Whitstable.


Animated Film: Sawdust For Brains And The Key Of Wisdom, commissioned by Channel 4, Television: A woman is transformed into a puppet by a sorcerer with a magic key and given a chance to see the mechanisms that create our fate here on earth; using Voodoo she manages to shrink the sorcerer and find a love. Stop frame animation using puppets and live actors, running time 11 minutes:



Animated Film: 'Flatlanders.'

Shown in Guildford Cathedral to support a science debate around the nuclear experiment at 'The Centre for European Nuclear Research'(CERN) This was a collaboration with the Very Revd Victor Stock, scientists Professors Brian Cox, and Jim Al-Khalili.Also in 'The New Future' and exhibition of three artists at The Columbia Arts Center, USA See excerpt below*



Animated Film: '6 Days Goodbye Poems Of Ophelia,'

Research funded by The Welcome Trust and with a microbiology input by Dr Simon Park. The piece features an animated version of John Millais Ophelia created out of bacteria - to pay tribute to Ophelia by poem, song music etc. Call: 44(0)207-1839366.

The Day 4, section below includes a sound created by answer phone messages from, children, poets and the public. Excerpt from Ophelia project below:



MORE EXHIBITION INFORMATION:


Technology and the Evolution of the Artist's Book Brighton 2016, Solo show Brighton Buddhist centre UK 2015, Redland Museum Cleveland Australia, Personal Histories international Book Art Exhibition-October 2014 & 2015.

'Don't Submit To A Moments Passion With A Stranger,' was shown as a part of 'T1+2 Gallery Annex Projects', exhibited in Rupert Sanderson's in Mayfair, London, June 2008. Commissioned originally for the grand opening of The Lux Cinema, Hoxton Square, London 1997.
Past work: New Contemporaries- ICA, Camden Arts Centre, Whitechapel Open, Alnolfini Bristol, National Film Theatre, Channel 4 Television, BBC2, Carlton television, Tate Britain, Guildford Cathedral. 'BachModern Project' Austria, Sofia Bulgaria, Bangkok Thailand, Hamburg , Stuttgart, Washington DC Arts Centre, Chamalieres, Annecy, Madrid, Zagreb republic of Croatia, Krakow Poland, Toronto Canada.

1991 commissioned by the BBC Bristol to make The Weatherhouse for a New Directors slot. 1993 Channel 4 Television commission to write and direct, 'Sawdust For Brains And The Key Of Wisdom'(see above)shown on C4 and in two special UK cinema programs [Showcase For The Avant-garde' and 'Grotesque Imaginings' at the National Film Theatre and international festivals. 1990 'The Brooch Pin And The Sinful Clasp', (was winner of the Grand Priz Animafest Zagreb) and is distributed on 'Connoisseur Video' this work was also a part of 'Between Imagination and Reality' an Arts Council tour. The work is also referenced in 'From Beast To Blonde' author Marina Warner.
Portrait Photography by Roelof Bakker

For more films go to: YouTube and her website is JoWonder.com

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