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

The Children Explained

Walking around, I caught a glimpse of what remained from my wheat paste excursion a few nights before. Some of the kids have been removed or painted over, but most still stand, looking forlornly oblivious in their respective environments. The ephemeral nature of the project seems a perfect fit for my forays into memory. 

Such a vulnerable act warrants an explanation, so here goes. 

At first the project was about taking something private and crossing the line into the public realm. Many years ago I collaborated with my good friend to install a living space in a commercial gallery. We gathered our inherited collections; photo albums, shells, trinkets, dolls, doilies, souvenir spoons- and placed them in the gallery space along with living room furniture, a kitchen table and some other common household items. Then we labeled everything in the archival museum style, including ourselves. 

The Children is basically a reverse of our (Re)Collection show. I am installing old photographs of my siblings and I on the street. Most people won’t even darken the doorway of a gallery, let alone go in. My objective is to exhibit to the biggest audience possible. It was hard, leaving something so personal in a place where I had absolutely no control over the outcome. But here lies the beauty, I can’t control how people receive The Children. And I don’t want to.

Are they lost? Orphans in a world far bigger and meaner than the one they knew growing up. Perhaps it reflects my state of being during the artistic process, just sort of existing in the fragile space between memory and reality. I want this image to get stuck in people’s heads. 

Last year's pages

Granny Motif

The month was December, the year was 2011. I was visiting my hometown for a week during the Christmas holiday. I remember it was raining pretty hard, and I was bored. Naturally, I found my favorite photograph and went to the library. What you see below are the first pages of my sketchbook, a brainstorming session that would be the foundation for my current work.

The Children

Don't worry, they'll be fine. They always are. 

December is for resting.

Sorry for the lapse of communication. This is the first time in six months that I haven't had something to plan/prep for so I am relishing the quiet time. The most exciting news I should share is that I am the proud recipient of the DTES Small Arts Grant! Studio time will pick up again in January. I plan on developing my work through printmaking. Pictures to come in the new year.

A gift for you: www.jennyhawkinson.com

Merry Christmas!