This week we are bringing you another of our Brand Ambassadors! Jenna is a local sculptor, who creates stunning artwork out of clay, specialising in human portraits and animals. We sat down with Jenna to ask her all about her life and career, and how her Gearing tripod has assisted her work. 

I attended Mayfield school in the East Sussex countryside, which proudly holds one of the best ceramics departments in Europe. Here I was first introduced to working with clay and was able to develop my style, learning quickly where my skills lay. At the age of 18 I held my first art exhibition, and knew that this was exactly what I wanted to do. I considered university, but decided I wanted to head straight into work after finishing school. 

I believe that my strengths are best found in portraits, in which I have found myself a niche in elderly gentlemen, specifically war veterans. I find the story behind the face really helps me with the emotion I can put into the clay. I also enjoy the more intricate details of an aged face; there is so much more to show. My portraits of some incredible men can be found on display in the National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, as well as the Fleet Air Arm Museum in Yeovilton. I have a couple of very big projects in the works, namely that of Billy Fiske, a US combat fighter pilot and Olympic bobsledder, a gent with the most incredible short life. A statue of him will go on display at the US Embassy in Wandsworth, London. Another statue and one that is particularly emotive is going to Barra in Scotland. This will commemorate the life of Eilidh MacLeod, a 14 year old girl from the Isle of Barra, who tragically died in the Manchester bombing 2017.

The Gearing tripod has really helped me capture my work as it progresses, allowing me to publish much more professionally taken photos during the creation of my art and after. I enjoy taking progress photos for my social media pages, and my followers find it really interesting to see the stages of my work. I am also an avid outdoors person - my life is the countryside and my animals. I love using the tripod to capture photos of my horses and dogs wherever we might be - the fields of Sussex, the beaches of Kent or my family trips to Scotland. The tripod has really pushed my photography a lot more, particularly because it is so multifunctional. I can use it in its table top set up when making my mini models, the standard set up for larger commissions, and then use it as trekking poles on my walks around the countryside.