Jean Bardon - prints and biography

Biography

Jean Bardon (b. 1952, Dublin, Ireland) is a contemporary printmaker whose refined etchings are celebrated for their delicacy, craftsmanship, and contemplative beauty. After graduating from Dun Laoghaire College of Art in 1974, Bardon moved to Amsterdam, where she worked as a studio assistant. There she first encountered the medium of etching while studying at De Werkschuit, an experimental print studio housed on one of the city’s houseboats. This discovery would become the foundation of her artistic practice.

Returning to Dublin, Bardon joined Graphic Studio Dublin, Ireland’s oldest cooperative printmaking workshop. At the studio she refined her technical skills and developed her artistic voice, working alongside established printmakers such as Stephen Lawlor and James McCreary. The collaborative atmosphere of the workshop provided an ideal environment for Bardon to deepen her engagement with the etching process.

Bardon’s imagery frequently draws on the formal structure of botanical art. Leaves, flowers, and stylized organic forms appear throughout her work, arranged with a strong sense of balance and decorative rhythm. Her fascination with pattern and line reflects a long-standing admiration for the clarity and simplicity found in Asian art, influences that lend her compositions a quiet, meditative quality.

In recent years Bardon has expanded her practice by incorporating gold leaf into selected prints. Inspired by the luminous surfaces of Japanese folding screens and the gilded panels of early Sienese Renaissance painting, the addition of gold introduces both warmth and light to the etched surface. The interplay between finely drawn line, subtle color, and gilded elements gives her prints a distinctive presence that is both contemplative and richly decorative.

Bardon’s work has been widely exhibited and is represented in public and private collections in Ireland and internationally. In 2002 she received recognition at the Royal Hibernian Academy Annual Exhibition, affirming her position among Ireland’s leading contemporary printmakers. Through her work, Bardon continues to balance the discipline of etching with a deep appreciation for ornament, pattern, and light.