Art & Life with Jenna Gibson

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jenna Gibson.

Jenna, please kick things off for us by telling us about yourself and your journey so far.
Growing up in Southern California, I had the privilege of being surrounded by art on a constant. Murals from the beaches to downtown LA, to clothing and fashion design, and galleries galore. I have always enjoyed drawing since I could first remember anything, just never knew what possibilities were out there for me an artist.

I attended and graduated from the Art Center College of Design, and during my studies there, my entire world opened up. I saw the possibilities and jumped into exhibiting my work at various galleries across SoCal, along with lots of commission work.

Back in 2014, I began teaching at Art Center College of Design, and absolutely love what I get to do there. Getting to watch students grow as artists is a really wonderful thing to be a part of, and I enjoy every single day of it.

Can you give our readers some background on your art?
My work is figurative and portraits based, with a hint of history and natural elements intertwined throughout. I love the feel and grittiness of charcoal and graphite, the most basic of materials, but one that has proved it’s worth through time. Both materials can be used in so many wonderful ways, academic to professional, simple to complex, dry or wet, soft and hard, light and dark. So versatile, and so fun to work with.

When I work, I tend to start with a simple subject and intensify and personalize it as I go. The person or subject I choose to draw is always one that captures my attention in some way. I am drawn to interesting shadow shapes, faces with character, and ones that tell a story without any words.

Once I get my focal point going, I use reference from historical and natural places that fascinate me to visually finish my story. They end up quite abstract to most, but I find the most interesting part to be ones that I don’t completely understand. Nor do I want to. Looking at art and taking away a personal experience is what it’s all about. I don’t want it spelled out for me….ever.

How do you think about success, as an artist, and what do quality do you feel is most helpful?
From a young age, I learned money isn’t a success. To me, success is being happy in whatever it is you chose to do in this life, and do it with dignity. Art and nature have been my two biggest passions in life, and because I get to do both consistently and enjoy them equally, I feel very successful in my life.

As an artist, to be successful, you must enjoy it. Even if it’s a commercial job where you don’t have much say in what you will be creating, find a small moment in that piece and make it your own. Whether it be the way, you apply the paint, the mark making, the subtle change in line weight from one form to another. Your hand is something that is all yours, an individual and unique mark making tool left on the world.

But please, enjoy it. Art should be fun, expressive, painful, and true.

What’s the best way for someone to check out your work and provide support?
My work is not being shown in any exhibitions at this very moment, but definitely looking forward to what the future has in store.

The work I am currently producing can be found on a few online platforms such as Behance, Tumblr, and Etsy, along with social media outlets like Instagram and Facebook. It’s really amazing how lucky we all are as creatives to be able to go on the internet, type in “portrait work” and a million different avenues open up for you. Seeing what other artists and designers are doing is so inspiring to me. It motivates me to try new things, and never get stuck on one type of media or a repetitive lull.