Tag Archives: Jenna Rodriguez

May 01 2016
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“Still” Solo Exhibition

I recently had a solo exhibition at the String Room Gallery in Aurora, NY. The body of work centers around my artist’s book Still. This hand-bound book commemorates the lives (both real and imagined) of nine of the many local animals I encountered who were killed by moving vehicles. The corresponding interdisciplinary exhibition is comprised of handmade paper, screen prints, embroidery, stop-motion animation, and installation. With wit and empathy, I created larger-than-life characters inspired by each victim, resulting in an immersive, creative, non-fiction narrative.  Text was pulled from the String Room Gallery website. If you would like to know a little more about the process of me creating the artist book Still check out Main Street Arts Gallery Blog where I did guest entry about the book. If you would like to watch the animation check it out here on my website!

Opening Reception
Opening Reception
Opening Reception
Write Up In Local Paper
54 (Still Shot of animation)
54 (Still Shot of animation)
Detritus Series (Handmade Paper)
Detritus Series (close up)
Xrays
Healing Series
Roadkill Confessions
Confesstions
Shrine
“Still” Artist Book
“Still” Artist Book

 

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Jan 09 2016
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Art, Book Arts, Jenna Rodriguez, papermaking, Uncategorized

Abandoned Greenhouse Transformed into a Paper-Making Studio

Last summer/fall I had a wonderful opportunity to transform an abandoned greenhouse attached to the Wells College Book Arts Center into a functional paper-making studio. The space was calling my name the second I arrived on campus 2 years ago. I slowly began to collect material, receive donations, and build equipment. As last spring semester was coming to an end I received a grant from the Edward Family Foundation to complete the entire transformation. The timing could not have been more perfect. I had simultaneously received approval from the curriculum committee that my Intro. to Paper-making Class proposal was approved for the Fall semester. This allowed me to work on summer in order to get the space prepared for the students. Please enjoy the gallery of photos to see the transformation and the projects that took place during the Fall semester.

Greenhouse Abandoned
Windows Broke
Repainted
New windows being put in
Cleaned out the inside
Make shift paper beater
Harvesting corn & using left overs for paper-making
Visiting Artist Poster
Visiting Artist lecturing about her paper-making garden
Students planting bulbs
seed donations
Planting seeds
Beating Cotton into pulp
Making paper
Cleaning out new paper-making storage room
Staining & sealing shelves for greenhouse
Spent grain Paper
overview of greenhouse
Handmade deckles
Shelves installed
Drying unit built
Organizing
Chopping up plants to make paper from
learning about seaweed that can be used for paper-making
Building tables
Professional paper beater
Everything coming together
Students beating Abaca (banana plant)
Students making shape sheets of paper
Harvesting
Collecting
Collecting sunflowers for sunflower paper
Drying out plants before cooking
Air drying sheets of paper
Cooking Golden Rod
Golden Rod paper
Cooking red onion skins
Red onion skin paper
Officially the home of that paper making studio

 

 

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Mar 09 2014
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Book Arts, Jenna Rodriguez, Letterpress printing Link

Download “Extinct” My Single-Sheet Artist Book!!!!

Download “Extinct” My Single-Sheet Artist Book!!!!

Click on the link above to learn more about the show and download all three artists books.

A few months ago Otis College of Art and Design commissioned me to do a single-sheet Artists Book for the exhibition Binding Desire: Unfolding Artists Books. The only restriction was size (8.5 x 11in) so it could be printed from any computer.  The book is now available for download and it includes folding directions. There are two other book artists, Hazel Mandujano and Bonnie Thompson Norman, who participated as well.

“Extinct,” is about the evolution of communication and how face to face interaction is becoming extinct. It is a texting conversation I had with my father. He is trying to adjust to technology and learn/create his own texting abbreviations. It is hilarious and sad because the spoken word is fading. I created the images in the book with pressure printing on a Vandercook and the text is hand lettering.

If you are in the Los Angeles area you should check out the show. The exhibition is up till March 30th. If you are not able to visit the gallery download the artist books.

Here are details about the exhibition: “Binding Desire: Unfolding Artists Books is a group exhibition featuring approximately 120 works from Otis Millard Sheets Library’s Special Collection of 2,100 artists books dating from the 1960s to the present.” (from the Ben Maltz Gallery Website)

Here are some pic of my book…

Extinct
Extinct
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Nov 30 2013
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Jenna Rodriguez

First sale in my Etsy Shop!

I have been working on building an Etsy shop for the past month. I am still working on adding more of my artwork to the shop but right now I have bracelets and prints. Please visit the site, tell your friends about it and maybe even make some purchases! The holidays are around the corner and I have lots of holiday cards for sale. Bracelets also might be a lovely gift for someone special. Everything in my shop is designed and handmade by me! Check out my etsy shop JennaMrodriguez

First Etsy Sale bundled up and ready to be shipped!!!!

First easy sale!

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Sep 29 2013
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Work Around The World!

Busy, Busy, Busy… The past couples months out of graduate school and into the real world have been a roller coaster. Trying to create a balance to make your own work, stay involved in the arts, submit work to shows, write grants, make money, work a full time job, and a could part time jobs, and teach workshops can be crazy but sounds pretty normal for artist. The last month I have committed to applying for shows and grants and I think it paid off. The next couple of months I am honored and super excited to have my work displayed in multiple locations. If you are in the vicinity of any you should stop by to check out my work along with all the other work!

China: Exhibition of Miniatures in Jiujang University
New York: New York Bound: International Book Art Biennial at Islip Art Museum
Alabama: Juried 918 Letterpress Printed Ephemera Show at Samford University Art Gallery
Chicago: At the Arcade, 618 South Michigan Ave. I received a grant last year and this is a show for all the grant recipients. It is on display now check it out!

Utah: In January I will be presenting my Thesis Project at the College Book Art Association (CBAA) in Salt Lake City

Sometimes I feel like applying to shows and grants can be a full time job in itself. There will be lots of rejections but there will also be times of excitement. I think all artist should make a personal commitment to apply for so many grants and shows every couple months. In the end you should never give up this is an integral part of an artist’s life.

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Aug 28 2013
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Lookout for my Art at North Coast Music Festival

Plan on attending North Coast Music Festival in Union Park, Chicago? If so, keep an eye out for my screen prints. They will be posted all over the festival. All around the theme of thought provoking statements. There are even a few interactive posters where you can fill in the blank with your own statement and some glow in the dark! If you see any takes pictures with them and send them to me! Here is a little preview… enjoy! Happy printing.

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Aug 20 2013
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Sonder…

This is amazing. I really connect with this statement and my artwork reflects what he is saying especially my thesis project “Running Thoughts.” This is written so poetic and hopefully makes you stop and reflect on your life… enjoy.

Thinking, Dwelling, Reflecting, Reminiscing, Inspiring.

Sonder: n. the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own—populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness—an epic story that continues invisibly around you like an anthill sprawling deep underground, with elaborate passageways to thousands of other lives that you’ll never know existed, in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk.

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May 14 2013
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Art, Columbia College, Jenna Rodriguez, Letterpress printing, Uncategorized

The End Is Here!!!!!

This weekend I will be walking and officially receive my MFA in Interdisciplinary Book and Paper Arts. It was a long and fast three years. (if that makes sense)  Looking back I feel the time has flown by but during these three years I remember feeling the end of the tunnel was soooo far away. Now I am trying to figure out the question everyone in the past couple months has been asking me… “What is next?” As of now I am hoping and praying for a job in the near future!!! The search mission is beginning. I currently have THREE part-time jobs (I produce the Journal of Artists Books (JAB), teach art at two public schools in Chicago, and the not so fun job of waiting tables). My goal is to find ONE full time job. Oh how lovely that would be. Well that is it for now. Enjoy some pics from my thesis show!

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Jan 25 2013
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“Running Thoughts”

For the past 6 months I have been working on my thesis project called “Running Thoughts.”

Running Thoughts” is an interdisciplinary art installation in which commuters on public transportation answer, the question “Why are you going?” I have transformed the material I collected, which includes recordings, interviews, conversations and written surveys, into a layered soundscape that is synced with a motion graphic wall projection and accompanied by a handmade book.  “Running Thoughts” offers an insight into the public and private thoughts of Chicago commuters.  The work will be installed in the Center for Book and Paper Arts gallery on April 26th for six weeks.

When riding public transportation you are in a small public space with strangers. Silence is the norm with small gestures of acknowledgement or avoidance, while meaningful interaction is the exception. However, beneath these spaces there is a primordial soup of humanness: Each of us has our own worries, triumphs, annoyances, jokes and insights that ultimately are similar. I will access them; bring them to the public in a tangible form—and seek to connect the randomness of our passings: those brief moments we inhabit the same physical space and connect the mental space briefly. The aim of my projects is to increase awareness, shed light on our passing thoughts and emphasizing our commonality­—expose the spark of life behind our eyes and form a lasting connection between us all. Ultimately, “Running Thoughts” will reveal a certain aspect of humanity and open a window into our traveling companion’s being.

Here is my first sketch of the installation

Image

Stay tuned for more sneak peeks…

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Aug 27 2012
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I’m Sexy And I Know It!

I thought I should share the music video the other interns and I created while at Wells. The printmakers at the University of Kansas created a music video in their printmaking shop and thought we should create a response video in the Wells printmaking shop. We had so much fun doing it and it also shows off the shop. I hope you enjoy. After you watch our video you can watch KU’s and see where we got our inspiration from.

 

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