Artist Jenna Gerrety says her appreciation for nature and decomposition is a common thread that weaves in and out of her work.
The painter, ceramicist and fiber artist enjoys playing with the contrast of man and nature, what she considers artificial versus natural.
“I like contrasting those things,” she said. “I like showing a gorgeous landscape and then having it interrupted by the banality of a car, or a light pole — some evidence that we have just come through and done what we will with the landscape. How does that change how we feel about the place that we are observing?”
Gerrety says that she is constantly discovering new mediums. Creating to her is instinctual. Growing up, art was her escape, a habit first formed to shut out the world, and evolving as a way to embrace and understand her surroundings. Everyday she is making something, whether it is felting, painting, or trying something new. A little over a year ago, she took a felting class with her grandmother, initially more interested in the subject of making a felt mushroom instead of the medium. She says the skills you learn in one medium often transfer to others, finding the process of laying down paint and wool to be more so the same, creating layers to give her pieces depth.
“It is such a fun feeling to touch wool, from core wool, to corriedale, and merino, they all have different textures,” Gerrety said. “And then it is so cathartic to stab something intensely. Plus the risk of danger, because the needles are backbarbed like porcupine quills, they really hurt when you stab yourself!”
The Homer-based artist graduated from the University of Alaska Anchorage in 2017 with a bachelor in fine arts, and moved back to the Kenai Peninsula where she grew up. She spent time in Japan as an exchange student in high school, and has taken some influence into her own work. She is inspired by a range of artists from Hayao Miyazaki to Lee Bontecou; Gerrety says she learned to appreciate the concept of a recurring motif in your artwork from her. What pops up a lot in Gerrety’s art are red dots, symbolizing the sun, moon or even a baleful eye in the sky.
“I think in color, first,” she said. “So when I start a painting, or a felt sculpture, I’m often thinking what color I want to bring first. For example, one of my past shows was ‘Omnipresence,’ it was a show about blue, and how blue is one of the rarest colors, but also everywhere. So all of the paintings started from the concept of blue.”
Gerrety has work available for sale on her website.
Sam Davenport is a writer residing in Anchorage. She's a leo and a plant-person, and loves spending quality time with her dog, Aspen. She is a Real Housewives fan and has been called a Bravo historian.
