Author: Jenni Ward

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Wander/Wonder Sculpture Dance Event

Attention PNW Friends! You’ll want to save the date for this event!

Dancer Julia James. Photo by Tuesday Sands

I was thrilled to find out that my piece Lichen Series: Spore Patterns was selected as one of the sculptures in the Price Sculpture Forest for the dance event Wander/Wonder. Dancers from the StoneDance Productions will be interpreting and interacting with works in the forest through dance and music. I’m sad to not be able to see this in person but hope to get and share videos of the event. If you’re in the area, be sure to check it out!

lichen series | spore patterns | public art | Jenni Ward ceramic sculpture

StoneDance Productions presents WANDER/WONDER: a sculptured dance happening. Come journey on a lush forest trail to witness thought-provoking dance by 10 stunning professional Seattle dance artists alongside a beautiful outdoor collection of art.

Saturday, August 27, 2022 | 1:00-3:00pm | Price Sculpture Forest | 678 Parker Rd Coupeville, Whidbey Island, WA

Suggestion donation: $20 or pay-what-you-can. All donations accepted at the event. All proceeds from this event support the Whidbey Island Good Cheer Food Bank and Price Sculpture Forest.

For more information about this event visit: EVENT PAGE

Trinket Necklaces in the Shop

Collaborative Trinket Necklaces | shop | Jenni Ward ceramic sculpture

Wearable Sculptures Available in the Shop!

Jamie Abbott and I collaborated to create a series of fun Trinket Necklaces. Each piece is a unique composition of both handmade porcelain clay shapes and forged metal forms, all hung on ball chain or black leather cord. They are the perfect combination of industrial and earthy unique wearables and they make great gifts!

SHOP NOW

the outside scoop: 3

This week, outside the studio…

Spent some much needed time off the grid in the Sierras this week.
I spent my time playing with dogs and friends, watching the osprey fish and I learned to crochet!
Adventures to almost 9,000 ft at Highland Lakes
Inspiration through exploration…

The Outside Scoop is a weekly blog series that shares a little bit of what’s going on in my life outside of the studio. Please feel free to leave comments, I look forward to chatting with you here!

making progress…

If feel as though I’ve fallen down a rabbit hole the past week, busily making what feels like a million parts for my upcoming exhibit, Bodies of Water this September at the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery at UCSC. Working with gallery director Tauna Coulson, we’ve been choosing paint colors to turn the gallery into an ocean, creating templates for a nearly 2000 part site specific installation, selecting work, organizing pedestals, designing the layout and of course making parts.

I hit a point where it seemed daunting, but now I’m rounding the corner and can visualize it all coming together and I’m getting really excited about it. I also l.o.v.e. the color blue we chose for the gallery walls, can’t wait for you to see it!

Making all the art is one part of the job but installing them is a whole other task. I’ve started getting things boxed up to bring them up to the gallery in the coming weeks and start the process. Luckily I’ve got a long lead time since the gallery is technically closed for summer, so I can use that to my advantage and not have to rush installation. Phew! Hope to see you all at the opening September 24th 5-8pm where all these parts will magically transform into a plankton filled ocean gallery!

Bodies of Water | Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery UCSC | Sept 20th – Dec 3rd | Opening reception Sept 24th 5-8pm

the outside scoop: 2

This week, outside the studio…

My parents came to town for my birthday week, so we went kayaking in Elkhorn Slough with friends.
It was Bowie’s first time in a kayak and he did great checking out all the otters and birds.
For those of you that don’t know, when I’m not in the studio, I’m most often found here, in the freezing cold ocean swimming. This week I got my mom in with me. Swimming is my form of meditation and of course a source of inspiration for my work as well.
The corpse flower was full of drama, will she bloom, won’t she bloom? I went up to the UCSC Arboretum a number of times to check on her and then when all hope was thought to be lost, she bloomed! The smell had faded a bit by the time I got up there but I did get a few sticky whiffs of this incredible plant.
While I was crouched down taking this photo of a water hyacinth flower in a Bonny Doon pond, my dog was trying to walk across them and promptly plopped completely into the water – both of us were pretty surprised! He’s a good swimmer though!

The Outside Scoop is a weekly blog series that shares a little bit of what’s going on in my life outside of the studio. Please feel free to leave comments, I look forward to chatting with you here!

video: evolution of an installation

If you come by my studio this year for Open Studios, you’ll get to see this piece in person, but I thought it’d be fun to share a bit of the process making it. I actually wish I took more photos in process, but hopefully this very quick video gives an idea of it’s evolution.

The composition is mimicking the rings of a droplet into water and it’s composed of around 700+ porcelain pieces that are inspired by the bone structure of radiolarians (single cell planktons). Some of the pieces are mounted directly on the wall and some are attached to metal stems so that they can float off the wall, creating depth and casting shadows. If you watch the video closely or repeatedly you’ll notice that some pieces were removed and more space was given between the ripples, sometimes these are things that you can’t predict before you’re actually installing the work. I still need to clean the chalk lines off the wall but the more I live with this piece the more I love it. Hope you all get to come see it in person!

the outside scoop: 1

This week, outside the studio…

First week seeing the corpse flower at the UCSC Arboretum – can’t wait to see and smell this baby blooming!
My favorite secret spot to be off the grid and reconnect with nature
Santa Cruz summer sunsets are pretty perfect

The Outside Scoop is a weekly blog series that shares a little bit of what’s going on in my life outside of the studio. Please feel free to leave comments, I look forward to chatting with you here!

Save the date for Bodies of Water!

Mark your calendars and get ready to dive into my newest exhibit: Bodies of Water!

Join us for the opening reception at the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery on the UCSC campus Saturday September 24th from 5-8. The exhibit is on display Sept 20 – Dec 3.

The gallery is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday from 12 PM-5 PM and Thursdays 12 PM-7 PM

New Blog Series Launching!

I’ve been feeling disenchanted with social media these days and posting there less and less. Fighting the algorithm and being inundated with an overwhelming amount of admittedly very funny videos are a just part of the battle. But, I still do want to share what I’m up to both in and out of the studio with you all. So….

I’ve decided to launch a new blog series, called ‘the outside scoop’. This will be a once a week post containing what’s going on in my life outside the studio so you might get some inspirational nature bits, adventures and probably a dog photo or two will sneak in once in awhile. Please feel free to leave comments on my posts, I look forward to chatting with you there!

low tide morning dog walk at Davenport Landing

I will be keeping all my social media accounts live, but my plan is to share more content here through this blog series and less (…and less) there. After all, you guys have actually subscribed to get my posts and hopefully we can reconnect without fighting the algorithm. Thanks for letting my life hit your inbox once a week!