Jenna North

Jenna North is a Lecturer of Studio Art in the Department of Art at the Rome School of Music, Drama, and Art, Catholic University of America. Based in Washington D.C., she is an interdisciplinary artist whose work functions as social aesthetics, focusing on water issues including contamination, drought, sea level rise, and species extinction.

Education:

• M.F.A. in Painting, San Francisco Art Institute
• B.F.A. in Painting (minor in Printmaking), Kansas City Art Institute

North's research and artistic practice spans painting, printmaking, interdisciplinary and performance art, and multimedia installation. She explores themes of environmental crisis through functional eco-art, photography, and performance, often using alter egos such as Wendy Well (a hydrofracking obsessed Post-Apocalyptic Interior Decorator) and Joan Dare (a Senator's wife from Kansas). Her current work includes a full feature film about these personas and projects addressing climate change, such as the "Submersive Gardening" initiative and a rooftop mural/garden in the Maldives designed to simulate ocean rise.

Awards and Residencies:

• CNY Arts NYSCA grant for "Submersive Gardening" project
• Residency at Sculpture Space
• Residency at National Art Gallery in Male', Maldives
• Residency at Children’s Museum with Sculpture Space, Utica, NY
• Project Grant (social practice residency) in Buffalo, NY
• Residency at Headlands Center for the Arts, San Francisco
• Residency at Montalvo
• Residency at Root Division
• Art in Embassy program exhibition at US Embassy, Colombo, Sri Lanka

North actively collaborates with scientists, designers, and artists on public projects and her studio practice. She has presented solo exhibitions internationally, including at the International Art & Artists at Hillyer, Honfleur Gallery in Washington D.C., and venues in New York, California, and Sri Lanka.