BIOGRAPHY
Iona was born in Ayrshire and studied Fine Art Printmaking at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art, Dundee (1991-1995) attaining 1st class BA Hons. Then she went on to study at SNDO School for New Dance Development, Amsterdam (1996-1998) and later Cirkuspiloterna (renamed DOCH), Stockholm (2003-2005).
She has been performing her solo works and choreographies internationally since 1998 and lived most of that time based abroad.
Iona is a former dancer with two iconic Belgian directors Wim Vandekeybus -Ultima Vez (2000, 2001, 2002) and Alain Platel- Les Ballets C de la B (2005, 2006, 2007).
Her own contemporary dance company ‘Knights of the Invisible’ was established in 2009 together with musician Joseph Quimby. The duo performs worldwide. She also teaches at performing arts schools and universities around Europe.
Throughout the years since graduating art school, she has been continually drawing and painting, specialising in large scale detailed pencil works. These are surreal, figurative worlds of dreaming and reinvention through hyper realism and distortion.
Iona searches for a clarity of vision through enlightened thinking, stimulated by dance states, physical movement and live performance. Her subject matter looks from the inside out, playing with the interconnected rhythm of line and shape to make form. A constantly moving visual vocabulary of reasoning. The body and its capacity for change, its limits, mental focus and physical energy have always been her working fascination. To challenge, or indeed, to become the idea in performance or visual art. The theatre of life and its detail beyond the edges into new ground. To see anew.
Aside to her main art works, she also makes more traditional pieces from places and landscapes encountered daily and from outdoor adventures. They search for a physical energy within the style and mood within the colours.
Iona currently works from her artist studio in Glasgow.
WEBSITE www.ionakewney.com
FACEBOOK PAGE https://www.facebook.com/ionakewneyartist
INSTAGRAM ART http://www.instagram.com/ionakewney
INSTAGRAM PERFORMANCE http://www.instagram.com/knightsoftheinvisible