Jenny Luna is a visual artist based in Texas and Arizona. She received her BA in Studio Art from Texas A&M University in Corpus Christi. She has also studied at The American Academy in Rome, Italy, and was a recipient of an artist residency at Chautauqua Institution. Originally from south Texas, Jen moved to the Southwest in 2019, where the vast richness of the desert lands became a major source of inspiration. Her mixed media works, often on handmade papers, are drawn and painted, stitched and multi-layered, sometimes 3-dimensional. They have been exhibited in Texas, California, New York and Connecticut, and reviewed in Huffpost.

I am an interdisciplinary artist from Texas and Arizona. Through painting, papermaking, sculpture and sewing, I create artworks that explore themes of spiritual and physical decay and transition. My work investigates the closeness between beauty and death, between male and female, and between belonging and otherness.

My studio practice involves constant experimentation with the physical processes of decay, utilizing both archival and non-archival materials. These materials acquire the aesthetic of deterioration, time and departure. Much of my influence comes from artists such as Jenny Saville, Anselm Kiefer, Nandipha Mntambo and inspirations that derive from practices in forensic pathology and experiencing nature.

My imagery stems from the plant world that inhabits the drylands of the Southwest. The landscape’s ambiguity allows me to enter an imaginary world, in which plants, alive and dead, become eccentric beings. Their lives exist intertwined in a state of in between not necessarily alive or dead, but both, at once.

JENNY LUNA
Jennyluna.net
visual.artist.jen@gmail.com

Education
2020 MFA in Visual Arts, Western Connecticut State University, Danbury, Connecticut.

2012 BA. Art, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Texas.

Workshop/Seminars
2019 “Collage and Painting”, The New England Craft Program, Williamsburg, Massachusetts.

2016-2017 Visiting Artist, The American Academy in Rome, Rome, Italy.

Selected Group Exhibitions
2022 "8X10 Self Portrait Show", Mi Vida Loca Gallery, Corpus Christi, Texas.

2022 "Love is Love Pride Show", Artevivo Gallery, Brownsville, Texas.

2021 "Think Fast Faculty Show", Texas A&M International University, Laredo, Texas.

2020 "Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition", Western Connecticut State University Gallery, Danbury, Connecticut.

2019 “First Years 5th Annual Exhibition”, Art & Frame of Newtown, Newtown, Connecticut.

2018 “The Living Novel: A Walking Exhibition” Holyoke, Massachusetts.

2016 “Emerging Artist Exhibition”, Flower-Kellogg Gallery, Chautauqua, New York.

2015 “February Art Exhibition”, Puente Art Studios, Brownsville, Texas.

“The Archive”, Art Center of Corpus Christi, Corpus Christi, Texas.

“Scoon Student Drawing Exhibition”, Hot Spot (K Space Gallery), Corpus Christi, Texas.

“Collaboration 2015”, Hot Spot (K Space Gallery), Corpus Christi, Texas.

2014 “In Full Color”, SOHO Galleries (1315 Studios), Chelsea District, New York.

“Pigeon Feeders”, Islander Art Gallery, Corpus Christi, Texas.

“Extraordinary Life”, Beyond Arts Gallery, Harlingen, Texas.

2013 “Graduate Exhibition”, Hot Spot (K Space Gallery), Corpus Christi, Texas.

“Gritos from South Texas”, El Gallista Gallery, San Antonio, Texas.

“Out-and-Out”, Chimaya Gallery, Los Angeles, California.

“Frida and Diego”, Chimaya Gallery, Los Angeles, California.

2012 “President Council”, Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, Texas.

“38th Student Art Show”, Weil Gallery, Corpus Christi, Texas.

2011 “17th Annual El Corazon Exhibition”, Bath House Cultural Arts Center, Dallas, Texas.

“President Council”, Woo Sung Lee Alumni Center, Corpus Christi,
Texas.

“34th Student Art Show”, Islander Art Gallery, Corpus Christi, Texas.

2010 “President Council”, Woo Sung Lee Alumni Center, Corpus Christi, Texas.

Art Residencies
2016 Chautauqua Institution, Chautauqua, New York.

Professional Experience
2020 Adjunct Professor, Painting I, Life Drawing, Art and Children (Undergraduate), Texas A&M International University, Laredo, TX.

Graduate Assistant, Sculpture I, Western Connecticut State University, Danbury, Connecticut.

2019 Graduate Assistant, Art Gallery,Western Connecticut State University, Danbury, Connecticut.

Assistant to Instructor, “Collage,Painting”,The New England Craft Program,Williamsburg, Massachusetts.

Graduate Assistant, Sculpture II, Western Connecticut State University, Danbury, Connecticut.

2017 Graduate Assistant, The American Academy in Rome, Rome, Italy.

2016 Graduate Assistant, The American Academy in Rome, Rome, Italy.

2015 Instructor of Record, Design III: Color Theory, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Texas.

Instructor of Record, Painting I, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Texas.

2014 Instructor of Record, Life Drawing, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Texas.

Instructor of Record, Drawing I, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Texas.

Awards
2015 “School of Arts, Media & Communication “Excellence in Drawing,Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Texas.

2014 “School of Arts, Media & Communication”, Outstanding Student in Drawing, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Texas.

2012 “38th Student Art Show”, Honorable Mention, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi,Texas.

Press
2011 “Out-and-Out: Gay and Lesbian Latino Artists Shine”, HuffPost: Entertainment, Noel Alumit, June 30, 2011/Updated December 6, 2017.