Check Out Jennifer Boyd’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer Boyd

Hi Jennifer, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I have always been a maker but began my trajectory as an artist working in other creative fields for the first 20 years of my life. Throughout these early years, I always made things and engaged in ideas that veered outside the commercial realm of where I was working. Those works and experiments grew and occupied more and more of my energy, time, and interests and eventually lead me to study at Otis College of Art and Design in their Sculpture/New Genres program when I moved from New York to Los Angeles in 2014.

I began thinking about and making work that focused on how technology and technological tools were changing the ways in which we understood ourselves and communicated with one another. I realized that this had been a life-long interest that was informed by my own childhood growing up in Cupertino, California and witnessing its change into Silicon Valley. As a parent, I saw how my children learned, communicated and engaged differently than I had as a result of technological advancements.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I think initially my need and excitement for wanting to learn formally about art and art-making didn’t give me pause about going back to school with students half my age. Sitting in my first class on Monday morning, I definitely had a panic attack and was pretty positive I hadn’t made the right decision. I felt silly, out-of-place and a fool. The challenge was to override the fear with the desire to experience and learn. Very quickly I went from outlier to just another student in the classroom and I found a community eager to engage with the ideas I was exploring.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
My work examines the omnipresence of devices in our lives, the ways in which the digital revolution has connected us personally and globally, and how this ever-present connection has altered our relationships to ourselves and with others. Themes explored within this broader context are voyeurism, mediated communication, slippage of reality, isolation, and tech addiction. Also of interest to me is how we now communicate through a new, truncated and image-based language, and the deciphering and decoding that encourages subjective translation.

Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
I’m very grateful that I was fortunate enough to be able to change creative course mid-life. On paper that might seem risky, but I think some calculated risk taking is essential for all sorts of positive reasons throughout one’s life. And certainly, uncalculated risk is a prerequisite to creativity. The more risks you take, the less risky it feels. You just get comfortable in the unknowing and that’s a great place to sit in and create.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jenniferboyd.studio
• Instagram: @jenniferboyd.studio