About Jenny
Photo © David Helbraun, 2021.
I am a visual artist and writer who uses the lens of landscape photography to explore the mysteries of existence. A printmaker turned photographer, my composite images and rich layers found a home in the world of fine art digital photography.
I am most interested in our human search for meaning and our drive to become greater than we are. I experience the landscape both as a salve to the challenges of my own life, and as a mirror for my emotions. My photos form a visual journal, in which I produce a trail of images that seem meaningful in the moment. In post-production, I try to make that meaning clear. Writing helps me to discover further meanings underlying the images.
I grew up in the forests of upstate New York, but fell in love with the California landscape while visiting friends here. I first learned darkroom photography while studying printmaking at the State University of New York School of the Arts (SUNY Purchase). I honed my printmaking skills in a commercial silkscreen studio, where we created custom fabrics and wallpapers. After moving to California, I continued my studies at San Francisco State University and made prints at Mission Gráfica in San Francisco. Occasionally I returned to upstate New York for private residencies at the Women’s Studio Workshop in New Paltz, NY.
I found I could earn a living with the pen, writing about critical social issues for nonprofit and government agencies. I always found creative outlets, anticipating one day being able to make art full-time.
For over 20 years, I’ve lived in a rural Sonoma County home that my husband Dave and I built as a collaborative work of art. After he died in 2016, I threw myself into my artwork to process the loss (see my The Journey of Grief and Emergence portfolios). The persistence of light in the darkness, however small, is a key visual element. I hope this focus will help others to persevere, even in the darkest of times.