Jenny Hale
Artist Jenny Hale.
This month our spotlight shines on local artist Jenny Hale. Curator, designer, and principal artist behind our most recent Art in Public Spaces exhibition Breathe in Sky: Project Wild Edges at the Eric Rood Center, Hale is an artist of many talents. Working in multiple mediums, she combines materials and collaborates with others to achieve her vision.
“I work in multiple media and combine many materials. I love to collaborate with other skilled creators who may excel in a medium I’m not adept in. I am interested in the essence of the materials—the feeling that emanates from each material. I design for a specific space and listen for what that space calls for.”
Hale has been an artist all along, recalling her days as a small child drawing and delighting in the visual details of her immediate world. After a successful career in TV production in New York City she returned to Nevada County and began her life as a sculptural installation and public artist.
“My good friend Tom Reddock tells me, ‘the job of the artist is to go to the place of your imagination and follow instructions.’ I love this quote because it is such a mystery what motivates us to follow an artistic directive. We are in a transitional time culturally where our evolution may be more technological than biological, and I want to explore the life force that enlivens us. This is an essential question in a time when we are reworking our relationship with time, space, physicality, and our sense of what is real and artificial. I want to make work that shifts our perspective and opens a window to a new way of perceiving—it sounds like such a tall order—no wonder I will never stop trying!”
Artist Ron Kenedi (L) and filmmaker John Alexander Jimenez (R) with one of Kenedi’s paintings for Project Wild Edges.
If you’ve been to the Eric Rood Center you may have noticed the piece now in residence at the landing on the stairwell. This piece by Hale, I’m Still Here, is a testament to the work she does in the community, using her art to center the voices of those we may not hear otherwise.
“I am very proud of the work that I’ve done in collaboration with the Nisenan tribe. The tribe made a bold move by extending an invitation to non-native artists to make art about the Nisenan. Their Visibility Through Art program is a model of awareness building and mutual respect. The watercolor and digital collage, I’m Still Here, hangs on the central staircase of our government offices building, Rood Center, and it is so fitting a Nisenan male dancer reminds us of the original inhabitants of this land and the people who are returning from erasure.”
We always ask our spotlight artists what they’re most proud of. Along with her work with the Nisenan Tribe, Hale shares her experience creating the California Humanities grant-funded Project Wild Edges in 2022.
“I am also very proud of the project I co-created with artist Lisa Barker. Sparked by a grant from California Humanities, we created a magical theatre piece on the Wolf Creek Trail—Project Wild Edges, about how humans interact with nature. The creative outpouring from the community in the form of costumes, music, dances, masks, and paintings are on display now at the Rood Center. Project Wild Edges, a documentary by John Alexander Jimenez, is on view in the lobby and will also be screened for one night along with three beautiful environmental films by local renaissance man Don Baldwin at the Nevada Theater, on Monday, May 6.”
We love to ask our artist spotlight about their relationship with our creative community. Hale’s response is a reflection of her exuberance and joie de vivre.
“Our creative community is one big Yes - Go Do it!! An affirmation of the power of creativity to bring us together in darkness and light—in celebration and awareness of the complexities of being alive in a human form. In Nevada County we are supported by each other and that gives us the courage to expose ourselves and expand.”
Project Wild Edges includes masks representing local animals.
We asked Hale about local artists who inspire her.
“Picking my two favorite artists in Nevada County is a challenge, with such a cornucopia to choose from. I’ll name Ron Kenedi who made all the paintings we displayed along the Wolf Creek Trail during Project Wild Edges. Ron is not afraid to tackle controversial and uncomfortable subjects which he captures with humor and a fresh simplicity. One of my other favorites is Jen Rugge, whose work speaks to ideas I have been wanting to express my entire artistic life with marginal success. In beauty and magic, Jen paints our primal connection to deep nature.”
We wrap up our spotlights with an opportunity to share what’s on the horizon and Hale’s response is as intriguing as it is sincere.
“What makes us different from a machine? I am interested in the essence of the life force in all its forms, from worms, to dogs, to humans. I have distilled that down to working with light. I am creating a line of lamps for homes as well as working on larger scale public sculptures illuminated by sunlight like the hanging Fire Flower piece currently on display at the Rood Center, and sculptures and installations illuminated by traditional and alternative power sources.”
If you haven’t yet, check out Breathe in Sky: Project Wild Edges at the Eric Rood Center to see some of Hale’s work in collaboration with many other talented artists from our community.
You can learn more about Jenny Hale and her work at jennyhaledesign.com.
This story originally appeared in the May 1st, 2024 edition of the GVNC Culture Connection newsletter.
