vintage memories
The Art of When Erin at the Leedy-Voulkos Art Center told us we had to see Jennifer Jarnot’s work in person, she wasn’t kidding. We were instantly smitten with her unique vintage style and had to ask her more about her inspiration. Jennifer Jarnot
VKC: Where did you draw inspiration for your current exhibition? Jennifer: My paintings take their cue from my attraction to popular culture, particularly the formative stuff of one’s childhood, toys, books, and games. Fascinating to me is the fact that these items were largely stand-ins for the “real world;” houses, automobiles, people, animals, etc., thereby allowing me to create a narra- tive that is culturally relevant using images that appear, at least on the surface, to be more comforting, accessible, and less threatening. Stylistically, the work borrows heavily from paint-by-number paintings. Paint-by-number “masterpieces” were never revered, valued or collected, and have now become an ever-prom- inent feature of second-hand stores. While walking through a flea market one afternoon, and stumbling upon a paint-by-number paint- ing of a boy and a rabbit, it oc-
tory behind the objects. When I see items on dis- play in antique
when they see these items? Jennifer: I offer the viewer a chance to visu- ally enter a space that is quite similar to the typical secondhand store, overloaded with objects, novelties, and curiosities. Through my paintings, the viewer can relive and return to a time when learning was largely experiential and not imposed, rekindle a variety of bits and pieces of memories, and perhaps create an engaged narrative through the reintroduc- tion of objects from a collective and familiar past. My overall intention is to simply ask the viewer to be self-reflective, to reconsider feel- ings or conversations they may have forgotten, places they may have been or would like to go, and material collections that are now lost or allegedly devoid of symbolism. VKC: Do you plan to use vintage/antique items for future work? Jennifer: Yes, I certainly will. There may be small transitions in my work over the next few years, but I certainly feel that vintage items and collecting will always be a part of my life, and since my paintings are heavily influenced by my environment, I may spend a lifetime working on numerous bodies of work based on nostalgic items. Jennifer Jarnot is a professional artist living and working in Lawrence. She has been teaching painting, drawing, printmaking and photogra- phy at Baker University since 2008. View these pieces and more at the Leedy-Voulkos Holiday Exhibition Dec. 2-Jan. 28, 2012, and on her website: jenniferjarnot.com. ^
stores I often wonder who once owned these objects, when and where they were originally purchased, and also where they used to be placed and admired in someone’s home. There are also particular palettes of colors that I’m attracted to. Victorian colors such as pale yellow, pale pink, and light grey-green are beautiful. 1950’s colors, that are very similar to the Victorian palette of colors, are also truly inspiring to me and can be found on many of the plastic toys of that era. VKC: How have vintage/antique items found their way into your life? Jennifer: Actually, walking into my home is like walking into an antique store, or a mu- seum. Not only do I collect vintage items, but my husband does as well. Our home is full of unique items including chalkware animals, a collection of more than 200 paint by num- ber paintings, Mexican masks, trinkets and tchotchkes, to name a few. VKC: What led you to painting on ukuleles? Jennifer: Leisure time was a new concept during the 1950s and paint-by-number kits were a wildly popular hobby craze that made the successful creation of a painting available to everyone. The 50s also saw a return of the Hawaiian craze and during that time 9 mil- lion ukuleles were produced in one decade. It seems particularly fitting to deliberately merge these two mass-produced, low-brow trends, superimposing the imagery of one on the other. VKC: What do you hope people experience
curred to me that the best manner in which to pres- ent the imagery that fascinated me most was to borrow a style from the same era as the im- ages I collect. VKC: Why vintage? Jennifer: I am drawn to vintage items because of the his-
VintageKC / Winter 2012 46
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