Discover / Meet the Artist
Featuring
Jennifer Small's visual language emerges from a deep sensitivity to everyday environments—rural, urban, familiar, and in-between. Rooted in observational painting, the practice has evolved into a layered abstraction of place and memory, constructed from textures, forms, and visual fragments encountered in daily life. Photography, drawing, and collage converge as tools of translation, allowing space, routine, and personal narrative to reassemble into compositions that both record and reimagine movement through the world.
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How has your upbringing or cultural heritage shaped the themes and techniques you explore in your art today?
I was brought up in a rural area by creative parents who were inventive with materials and considered different uses for common objects. I think this observant nature and consideration for challenging the relationship between form and function has influenced the way I create my work today. I was trained as a traditional, observational painter during my time as an undergraduate student. Over the years I have evolved to using my observational skills to notice and pull out interesting visual information from my environment in order to build abstract compositions that develop from the combination of the formal elements from real life, but also tell the story of where I’ve been and what I’ve seen.
How important is it for viewers to understand the intended message of your work? Does ambiguity add value, or do you seek clarity in your expression?
I don’t think it’s very important for the viewer to understand my intended message right away. My hope is that when they discover that my work is about using my everyday environment as a source of inspiration for the abstracted elements in my paintings that they take the time to slow down a bit to take in the aesthetic qualities of their own seemingly mundane spaces.
Can you take us through the evolution of an artwork, from that first spark of inspiration to the finished piece?
My inspiration comes from the spaces I am moving through at any given time, which could be during my day to day routine or during periods of travel or exploring new places. I use my phone to collect photos of visually engaging moments from these environments. During this collection phase I am looking for things like interesting textures, patterns, contrasts, overlapping lines/shapes, and areas of light/dark. These observations are then cropped, simplified, multiplied, flipped or rotated through a process of drawing and collage to get to the element that will actually be used in a composition. Several of these elements are then put together to build the composition. Usually the elements within an individual painting came from the same place or period of time. My color palettes are either taken directly from the original photos, completely imagined, or a combination of the two. This is determined before painting begins. I use paper, canvas, and wood panels as substrates with various applications of acrylic paint as my medium (brush, liquid, spray, marker). The result is a finished piece that is close to the original study with some adjustments in color and composition. My titles will connect back to the objects, time, or place that originally inspired the elements in the painting.
What unusual or unexpected sources of inspiration have deeply influenced your work?
I think a lot of my sources of inspiration have felt unexpected because there’s so much chance involved in the initial observational stage of my practice where I collect inspiration. The place, time of day, time of year, and my own personal openness to my surroundings all play a role. I have found that the more mundane the source, the more interesting it can be for the viewer to discover and also make a connection to it.
How has your artistic style transformed over the years? Are there specific influences, experiments, or moments that marked a turning point?
A major turning point for me happened in graduate school around 2011 when I took a narrative painting class. I wanted to continue to make abstract work, but I also wanted the work to tell a story or have a conceptual layer to it. Prior to this I was creating work that dealt with the simplification, enlargement, repetition, rotation, and dissection of single objects. This challenge led me to the idea of creating work using the framework of time and place to record visual inspiration during a day in my life. I began collecting photos of anything interesting I saw during my movements through a regular day of going to class, work, running errands, etc. The common thread was me. I was beginning to tell the story of my personal journey through my paintings via the observations I was using as inspiration. This is a process that I am still practicing today.
Do you feel a personal connection to your subject matter is essential? How has this connection shaped your work?
The personal connection I have to my subject matter is essential. The connection has shaped my work in a couple of ways. First, because the inspiration comes from things I have experienced, I feel that my paintings are autobiographical even though they appear to be formal abstractions at an initial glance. Second, my paintings seem to solidify memories for me even though they do not necessarily represent times of special events or milestones. Lastly, the personal experiences that inspire the work are also the source of my titles, adding another way to communicate my narrative.
Is art created for the artist, the audience, or somewhere in between?
I think art is created for both the artist and audience. The artist has to create their art, it’s part of who they are. I also think the art needs to be shared so that the artist has an opportunity to tell their story as well as provide the audience with a source of joy, reflection, curiosity, insight, and open up a dialog for the potential to gain knowledge, perspective, and empathy.
Has social media democratized art or diluted its value? How do you feel platforms like Instagram influence modern creativity?
I think social media has democratized art by providing access. For artists, the access helps us to connect to other artists, discover art we may not have otherwise ever seen, and seek out opportunities to exhibit and connect with collectors. For everyone else, the access provides an insight into what art is, all of the different forms it can take, and how they can make it a part of their life.
What are five steps you’re taking to ensure your continual growth as an artist?
First, I’m continuing to look at art as much as I can both in person and online. Second, I make an effort to connect with other artists. Third, I research spaces and opportunities to show my work, especially in cities or venues where I have not yet exhibited. Fourth, I maintain a consistent studio practice where I try to work on something each day even if it’s only for a few minutes. And lastly, I am continuing to experiment with media, substrates, and processes in order to push myself to continue to make work that I am excited about and proud of.
How do you envision the evolution of your work in the coming years?
In the coming years, I envision my work evolving into paintings that go beyond the traditional rectangle to work that has a physical dimension, includes a variety of materials, and increases in scale. But I see my process of composing the work remaining generally the same with the evolution being in the things that I experience and the visual inspiration that comes from those spaces wherever they may be.
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Memory, observation, and abstraction intersect in a practice that documents lived experience without replicating it. In Jennifer Small’s work, the visual becomes autobiographical—a mapping of time, place, and perspective. The result is not a retelling, but a record of attention, filtered through process, and returned as quiet, dimensional story.