Creating Art & Urban Community

Visit the link below to read an interview published on the WeMakeStuff website. Thanks Jenn!

Jenny Hawkinson: Creating Art & Urban Community

Remnant Patterns

A series exploring the disintegration of form and structure. 

July Art Shenanigans

It looks like its about time for another monthly update. I don't like to make excuses for my less than consistent online presence, but I am going to anyway. It's been a crazy month and here's why:

1. My art is featured in the July issue of This Great Society is Going Smash. Thanks TGS!

2. I went to Chicago for a week! I attended the JUSTart conference hosted by CIVA. In addition to the stimulating conversations around art, justice and faith with artists from across North America, I stayed in a large community (JPUSA) in North Chicago. Commuting to and from the suburbs allowed me to see more of the city and get a small sense of what it might be like to live there. And of course, I left some children in the 'hood.

3. Since my SF trip I have been dreaming up a way to expand my audience horizons. I am going to put photocopy collages inside buses. I thought I was the first person to come up with such a brilliant idea, until I found out that its been done before in Vancouver. At least my work is completely different from the last batch of guerrillas. Pictures to come later.

4. I'm planning an event for July 5! Loudmouth's, Mavericks and Misfits is a multi-media show that features ten artists representing dance, visual arts, poetry, design and music. Each artist has ten minutes to share about their process and any new work being made. The event will be held at Anchor Guitar Studios in Railtown. See the poster for details!

SF :: NYC :: VAN

This post is about the debut of my NYC Collection into the real world (house shows don't count), my SF trip, and recent studio projects. 

I had some fun in San Francisco, it is by far the most colorful city I have ever been to. Also, this is the closest I will ever be to exhibiting in the FFDG. It will have to do.

Select works from NYC Collection, 2011

There's something about framing an artwork that makes it look so legit. I caught an amazing sale so I stocked up on exhibition frames. You can see these beauties at the Water Shed Arts Cafe in Langley for the month of May. 

I am returning to mylar, but on a much bigger scale. In an attempt to create a wider point of contact for the audience, these personal family portraits are intentionally blurred and concealed. The material to be under and overlaid in the pieces are vintage wall papers and fabric patterns, hearkening back to a hazier, less defined time of life. 

The Last Bulwark Against Erasure

Untitled Collage details, 2013

Productivity x 1,000

Family portraits, graphite and acrylic paint on mylar, life-size

This picture excites me because it means that I have WHITE WALLS to work with!!! I moved my studio into another room- a very welcome addition to life right now. This season is crazy busy but I have zero complaints because things are getting done! I'm preparing for an art trip to San Francisco in mid-April, but until then I have a ton of proposals and submissions on the go. Also in the works is the installation I have been dreaming of for the last year. More to come soon!

A recent paste-up

I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine.

Thirty-two hours of labor. I'll write more about this one when I actually know what its about. These things take time. 

I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine. Hand embroidered handkerchief, 2013

Untitled Group Show!

Mid-March I hosted an art show in my home, which is fondly called 'The Shack'. Featured artists included Alex Pichler, Chris Siemens, Steve Frost, Enoch Tee, Alysha Creighton, Jim Boraas, and myself.

Jim Boraas (and paintings)

Steve Frost

Enoch Tee

Chris Siemens

Installation view of my forts (under the bed...)

Jenny Hawkinson

My beautiful kitchen! My painting to the right and Chris in the back.

The Fortress

In the last two years of working on my 'memory pieces', I have followed a lot of rabbit trails. Although it is never in vain, because it generally leads to ideas worth exploring.

I found some photographs of the forts that my siblings and I made on the property. I am intrigued by the tensions between play and survival.  Children have the uncanny ability to copy their adult counterparts. What seems like an innocent game can sometimes be an attempt to protect or control one's environment.

Structures to keep other's out, an enclosed space that we could feel safe in, something high off the ground, away from the rest of our normal lives. A place where secrets could be told, and promises made.

Rose Garden

I am moving into a series of painting/collages on small panels. Here is the first installment...

Rose Garden, mixed media on canvas, 15''x15'', 2013