Artist Statement

Portrait of Jenna

I am the daughter of a basket weaver and a writer. I’m a maker with a strong visual language that I use to create stories that foster and nurture community engagement.

My work is about the nature of transformation and, ultimately, I seek to transport the viewer into another world. I make visible our relationship to the extraordinary, which lives alongside the familiar, orchestrated through multi-disciplinary collaboration.

Peeling back the layers that obstruct what we take for granted, I work to reveal what is hidden from view: histories, secrets, and simple truths, by highlighting and exploring our relationship to the natural and supernatural world, and investigating ancestral histories.

In my work, I research the relationships humans have to the land, how that shapes and informs our identities, and how these relationships change over time. I am currently drawn to investigating spaces in nature that are most vulnerable and discovering what they reveal about myself, and the relationships that we have to each other.

My interest in visual art has been oriented toward movement and the body. Integrating mask making and puppetry into performative, embodied works is how I give expression to the space between enchantment and the everyday.

Curriculum Vitae