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JENNY DAY  |||  Studio Visit

PULL QUOTE

Misplaced animals stand as totemic witnesses to a world eroded by an accumulation of insults both large and small...Damaged landscapes, pulled apart, puzzled over, persevering with a litany of scars.  

Jenny Day - Artists - FERRARA SHOWMAN GALLERY

Biography

J E N N Y  D A Y   | | |   biography

[lives & works - Santa Fe, NM ::: b. 1981]

 

JENNY DAY earned an MFA in Painting and Drawing from the University of Arizona, a BFA in Painting from the University of Alaska Fairbanks and a BA in Environmental Studies from the University of California Santa Cruz. Her exhibition record most recently includes the Phoenix Art Museum, Blue Star Art Museum, in San Antonio, TX, Arte Laguna in Venice, Italy, Czong Institute for Contemporary Art in Korea, and Elmhurst Museum in Chicago, IL. Day’s work has been supported by an Elizabeth Greenshields Grant in 2018, Contemporary Forum Artist Grant from the Phoenix Art Museum in 2017, a Barron Purchase Award in 2016 and through participation at the Ucross Foundation, the Jentel Foundation, Playa Foundation For The Arts, Kimmel Harding Nelson Art Center, and the Armory Art Center. Jenny Day lives and works in Santa Fe, New Mexico and is represented by Ferrara Showman Gallery.

Jenny Day - Artists - FERRARA SHOWMAN GALLERY

STATEMENT

Needs More Wonder

 


Retreating from the stress and chaos of the last year, I created another landscape; populated by an army of friendly creatures.  Here the burdens of coronavirus, climate change, and political division are dismissed by hot pink kittens that arc gracefully through meter showers and owls that bury into beds of daffodils. In this place worry is edged out by the fantastic and mystical snails trail neon candy canes through the scorched earth. The apocalyptic is supplanted by the surreal and the allegorical. 

 

Anxiety followed me. The escapist reflects and distorts its shadow world, the real, a funhouse mirror that names the traumas as it blows past them, slyly referential. The work suggests that magic is possible; while anchoring itself in the grotesque, inedible foods, a conglomeration of garbage.  A blissful, almost psychedelic, reverence for nature exists, but  the fantasy’s origins leach through in the details and distortions. The animals are often translucent, reflective.  Nature persists, proliferates, and transforms. Relentless flowers push up against the edges of paintings, attempting to smother and subsume, animals and people oblivious to any threat; the threat always present. 

 

Not Mirrors, Portals

 

In past work I recreated place and infused it with memory; a snowy forest or vast horizon line overshadowed by environmental damage and marked by abstraction. After a tumultuous year, I find myself dreaming of the apocalyptic, four horsemen, frogs falling from the sky, the sea parting in triumphant arcs. In this work memory is permeated with nostalgia to the point of corruption. A landscape singed and burning, animals fleeing, soaring and independent, their entities barely tethered to the underlying structures. A rabbit crushes blistered tulips and flamingos erupt into rainbow-drenched lily pads. The sentiment overripe and romanticized, useless.  Flowers grow into fur, fires emerge in snow, a grotesque glimpse into a world gone wrong grows into leaping, looming celebration

 

In this place, a longing for before still exists, addictive and powerful. Time slows to a halt. The moment before a house explodes frozen as a coyote bounds over a mirage, squirrels fall through the sky and ships collide, pandas forage for food in a landscape as red as a new planet, a herculean effort to survive no matter what it takes. Movement begins in and transcends the  current chaos and devolution.  

 

This other world not a mirror but a portal. Resilience evolved, mutated. Here, in this made up place, the most horrendous things are overcome. Grief is met with bejeweled stallions, beat up trucks tear through the sky into far off sunsets, and rams pound information back together, bit by bit, new, ancient, heroic.  The unfathomable transforms into something reborn, something hopeful. 

 

 

Jenny Day - Artists - FERRARA SHOWMAN GALLERY

Curriculum Vitae

EDUCATION

2014   Master of Fine Arts, Painting, University of Arizona

2010   Bachelor of Fine Arts, Painting and Printmaking, University of Alaska, Fairbanks

2003   Bachelor of Arts, Environmental Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz

 

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2024   A Feast to Remember with new sculptures, Form and Concept, Santa Fe, NM

2024   New Paintings and Ceramics, Visions West Gallery, Bozeman, MT

2024   Okay With the Distortion, Ferrara Showman Gallery, New Orleans, LA

2023   A Feast to Remember, Alabama Contemporary, Mobile, AL

2023   Between Worlds, William Havu Gallery, Denver, CO

2022   Half-light, Galerie Bengelstrater, Dusseldorf, Germany

2022 New paintings and ceramics, Karlsruhe Art Fair, Galerie Bengelsträter, Karlsruhe, Germany

2021   Mirrors and Portals, Ferrara Showman Gallery, New Orleans, LA

2021   Needs More Wonder, Alabama Contemporary Art Museum, Mobile, AL

2020   Letting Go Of Utopia, Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum, Phoenix, AZ

2018   Our Shared Disaster,  Ferrara Showman Gallery, New Orleans, LA

2018   Lone Star, True But Whatever, Rosefsky Gallery, Binghamton University,  Binghamton, NY 

2015   Nearly Somewhere, Process Museum, Tucson, AZ

2013   Selected Works, OLLI Public Space, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

2013   Teleology / Echopraxia, Works on paper, Lionel Rombach Gallery,

2013   These Trace Remains, Porter Hall Gallery, Tucson, AZ

2010   Copulated Nightmares, Androgynous Daydreams, UAF Gallery, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK

 

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2024   Ceramics Now, Greenwich House Pottery, Jane Hartsook Gallery, New York, NY

2024    Two by one, Sam Takeuchi Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

2024    Counter Cowboy, Visions West, Denver, CO

2023    Paper Trails, Form and Concept and Zane Bennett Gallery, Santa Fe, NM

2023    Ryo Kato and Jenny Day, Galerie Bengelsträter, Karlsruhe, Germany

2023    Mountain Standard Time, Visions West, Bozeman, MT, Denver, CO

2023    Select Works, Galerie Bengelstrater, Dusseldorf, Germany

2023    Karlsruhe Art Fair, Galerie Bengelsträter, Karlsruhe, Germany

2023    Blick Nach Vorn, Galerie Bengelstrater, Iserlohn, Germany

2023    Arrivals, Form and Concept, Santa Fe, New Mexico

2022    Lush 2 , Contemporary Ceramics Exhibition, Lighthouse Arts Center, Tequesta, Florida

2022  Im Dialog, Jenny Day and Johanna Flammer, Galerie Bengelsträter,  Curator Wilko Austermann , Düsseldorf, Germany

2022    Kohn Art Fair, Galerie Bengelstrater, Kohn, Germany

2022    Cakes, Bad Mother, Lemonade Stand, Fairbanks, Alaska

2022    Cakes, Bread Inc, Lemonade Stand, Fairbanks, Alaska

2022    Cakes, IGCA, Lemonade Stand, Anchorage, Alaska

2021    Jenny Day and Anna Lena Straube, Galerie Bengelsträter, Düsseldorf, Germany

2021    Frankfurt Art Fair, Galerie Bengelsträter, Frankfurt, Germany

2021    Confluence, DAY + WALDMAN, two person exhibition, Chung-Numont Gallery,

            San Francisco, CA                          

2021   Flights of Fancy, Southwest Contemporary Magazine, Santa Fe, NM

2021    35 x 35 Project, Copelouzos Family Art Museum, Athens, Greece

2020    Inspiration in Isolation, Ferrara Showman Gallery, New Orleans, LA

2020    Rocky Mountain Biennial, Museum of Art Fort Collins, Fort Collins, CO

2020    Arte Laguna Final Exhibition, Venice Arsenale, Venice, Italy

2020   Jenny Day, Lui Ferreyra, Emmett Culgigan. Ryan Magyar, William Havu Gallery, Denver, CO

2019   CLIMATE, Michigan State University, Metrospace, East Lansing, MI

2019   Small Works Considered, Davis Dominguez Gallery, Tucson, AZ

2019   Take Nothing For Granted, Pima Community College, Tucson , AZ

2019   Take Nothing For Granted, Tucson International Airport, Tucson , AZ

2019   On Our Watch, Three-Person Exhibition, Davis Dominguez Gallery, Tucson, AZ

2019   Transiting 2, University of Arizona Joseph Gross Gallery, Tucson, AZ

2019   Arrowmont Instructor Exhibition, Arrowmont, TN

2019   Gallery Artist, Davis Dominguez Gallery, Tucson, AZ

2019   30 Collages, Gallery Artist,  Ferrara Showman Gallery, New Orleans, LA

2018   Contemporary Forum Artist Award Exhibition, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ      

2018   Arte Laguna Final Exhibition, Venice Arsenale, Venice, Italy

2018    From Underfoot: Breaking Through Surface and Ground, Blue Star Contemporary,

            San Antonio, TX

2018    Odyssey II, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, California

2018    Art Auction, Crocker Museum. Sacramento, California

2018    Small Things Considered, Davis Dominguez Gallery, Tucson, Arizona

2017   21st No Dead Artists, Ferrara Showman Gallery, New Orleans, LA

2017   Contemporary Landscape, Marin MOCA, Marin, California

2017    2017 Exhibition, Galerie Protege, New York, New York

2017   Contemporary Landscapes, Czong Institute for Contemporary Art Museum, Seoul, South Korea

2017   Sense of Place, Elmhurst Museum, Elmhurst, IL

2017   32nd Tallahassee International, Florida State University Museum of Fine Art, Tallahassee, FL

2017   Manual Digital, Space 151, San Francisco, CA

2017   Flora and Fauna, Arc Gallery, San Francisco, CA

2017   Small Things Considered, Davis Dominguez Gallery, Tucson, AZ

2017   Opposing Futures, FAT Village Projects, Fort Lauderdale, FL

2017   New Transitions, Palm Beach Atlantic University, West Palm Beach, FL

2017   Faculty / Student Exhibition, Armory Art Center, West Palm Beach, FL

2016   20th No Dead Artists, Ferrara Showman Gallery, New Orleans, LA

 2016  New and Now, Armory Art Center, West Palm Beach, FL

2016   11th National Exhibition, Axis Gallery, Sacramento, CA

2016   Art Of Our Century, Woodbury Art Museum, Utah Valley University, Orem, UT

2016   West, Coos Art Museum, Coos Bay, OR

2016   Small Things Considered, Davis Dominguez Gallery, Tucson, AZ

2015   The Land Mark Show, Center for Contemporary Arts, Santa Fe, NM

2015   Mark, Ground Floor Gallery, Nashville, TN

2015   Southwestern Invitational, Yuma Fine Arts Association, Yuma, AZ

2015   Small Things Considered, Davis Dominguez Gallery, Tucson, AZ

2015   Arizona Dreaming, Tang Gallery, Bisbee, AZ

2014   Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition, University of Arizona Museum, Tucson, AZ       

2014   Painting Now, Florence Quater Gallery, South West School of Visual Arts, Tucson, AZ

2014   Four to Watch, Davis Dominguez Gallery, Tucson, AZ

2014   Great Women Artists, Mayor’s Gallery, Tucson, AZ   

2014   Small Things Considered, Davis Dominguez Gallery, Tucson, AZ

2014   Three-person Exhibition, Refractions: Interpretations of Space and Place, Tucson Pima Arts Council, Pioneer Building, Tucson, AZ

2014   Two-person Exhibition, Resonant Soils, Revisioned Structures, Drawing Studio, Tucson, AZ             

2014   Diner d’arte Scottsdale, Bianca Lauren Gallery, Phoenix, AZ

2014   Arizona Higher Education Sustainability Art Show, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

2014   Arizona Altered Postcard, Exploded View, Tucson, AZ

2014   Wet Paint MFA Biennial, Zhou B. Art Center, Chicago, IL

2013   Arizona Biennial, Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ

2013   New Art In Arizona, Arizona Artist Guild Exhibition 2013, Shemmer Museum, Phoenix, AZ

2013   Art On Tap, Displayed at Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, AZ

2013   Perceptual Excavations, Tejas Gallery, Dayton, OH

2013   Among The Trees, Dendrochronology Department, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

2012   Three-person Exhibition, The Sum Of The Sequence From Then Until Now Is Not Equal To Here Multiplied By There, Lionel Rombach Gallery, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

2012   Artist By Night, Porter Hall Gallery, Tucson, AZ

2012   It’s All About The Buildings, Womankraft, Tucson, AZ

2011   First Year MFA Exhibition, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

2011   Gender Blender: Identities in Flux, Student Union Gallery, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

2009-  Fall and Spring Juried Art Shows,  UAF Gallery, University of Alaska Fairbanks,

            Fairbanks, AK

2009   Women and Myth, Ciao Gallery, Wilson, WY

2008   Women in Alaska, Alaska House, Fairbanks, AK

2008   The Presidents Show,  UAF Gallery, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK

2008   Gallery Artist, The Stash Gallery, Fairbanks, AK

2006   Parallel Lines, Bear Gallery, Fairbanks, AK

2007   Parallel Lines, Bear Gallery, Fairbanks, AK

2006-2022  UAF Sculpture Garden, Fairbanks, AK

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