Lynette Jennings, Artist
“I am utterly mesmerized with Western canyon geology and boundless space - fascinated with its immensity and yet infinite intricacies, and at times, the catastrophic grain-by-grain passage of shape and time. Geology is never static, rather a morphic phenomenon. For me to photograph or paint a canyon in detail would only record a mere microsecond. As sure as when a lizard nudges a grain of sand, so does the whole of the canyon shifts. My challenge is to render the movement, for as you look, and then look again, the image, its textures and shadows, even its scale shifts. I hope you find yourself wandering through my rocks.”
Statement
Bio
“My professional career in architectural design was all straight lines and predictability. I craved the freedom and abstraction of pure making so I threw myself into clay – all asymmetry, rough edges and Raku. But I missed the spontaneity of applied color. I picked up a knife and some oils, took a landscape class from Dan Leger, where we both agreed I didn’t fit the classical approach, and stubbornly stumbled out on my own. Somehow the tactility of the clay experience influenced how I handle paint today. Rarely using a brush, I “move” the paint on canvas, and more recently on panel with a knife, double loading mixing wet on wet. Years of thinking in architectural edges and color govern my “hand” creating the geology I so love. An unorthodox approach – maybe. But it carries me far away.”
Born 1948, a bricklayer’s daughter, in Springfield, Illinois, Lynette attended Sacred Heart Academy, majoring in music and fine art, winning city and statewide arts competitions. Jennings studied music at DePaul University Chicago and University of Michigan, then transferred to a major in architecture with a minor in anthropology.
In 1972, at the age of 24, she left before graduating to pursue land development and housing design in Toronto. With another like-minded young architect, she created a multi-disciplinary architecture firm in Toronto dedicated to bringing more humanistic living environment to the “mass market" housing industry. Their approach garnered the attention of the media resulting in her newspaper column, regular guest appearances on national television, a weekly live radio show, Design Editor for Canadian Living Magazine and Editor-in-Chief of Select Homes and Food Magazine as well as licensed product design.
Two of Jennings books, “Straight Talk” and “No Compromise” published by Meredith Corporation, each have sold over 160,000 copies.
Jennings is most known internationally for her daily TV series on Discovery Channel, Lynette Jennings Home and Lynette Jennings Design, from 1985 to 2000,
featuring architecture, décor and fine artists from the US, France and Italy.
Jennings has received awards from the architecture, design and art industries for her work in “elevating the standards and awareness of the arts within the public domain”. (New York Times)
In 2000 Lynette shifted away from her life in the media and consulting to focus full time to her art, moving to the Southwest to paint her love of the canyonlands.
Jennings and her husband Art Professor Emeritus and working sculptural ceramic artist Jim Romberg founded the Eagleheart Center for Art and Inquiry. Its mission: To close the gap between art, artists and society.
Lynette and Jim reside in SantaFe, New Mexico. Between them, they have five children and five grandchildren.
Galleries and Exhibitions
2005 September: Mesa Center for the Arts Open Juried Competition, First Place
2007 October: ACT I Gallery, Taos
2007 September: Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery 25th Anniversary Show
2008 May: Goldenstein Gallery, Sedona. Solo Show
2009 June: San Marino Gallery, Pasadena CA. Solo Show
2013 March: Sedona Monthly Featured Artist. Show at Goldenstein Gallery, Sedona
2018 January: Western Colorado Center for the Arts Exhibition:
“Emergence and Erosion: Reflections on Fire and Rock”. Show of 22 works and lecture along with Terry Shepherd ceramics.
Current Representation
Mark Sublette Medicine Man Gallery, Tucson, NM
G2 Gallery, Canyon Road, Santa Fe, NM