Studio Art

Jenny Nellis

Chair of Humanities Professor of Studio Art University of Iowa , MFA University of Nebraska, BFA 1988 Contact Info: Office: Humanities 104A Phone: (320) 589-6251 E-mail: nellisjg@morris.umn.edu Courses Taught: ArtS 2401 & 2402 Beginning Sculpture  I & II ArtS 3400 & 3410 Advanced Sculpture I & II  ArtS 3002 Media Studies: Artist's Books ArtS 1070 First Year Drawing    ArtS 1101 & 1102 Basic Studio Drawing ArtS 1103 & 1104 Basic Studio 2D & 3D Design ArtS 1105 & 1106 Basic Studio Discussion

Biography

Artist Statemnt

I am an object maker, a sculptor, a translator of ideas and things from one medium to another for consideration and contemplation.

I work in a variety of materials and techniques, primarily three dimensionally. I like the tactile quality of forms and materials. I like the repetitive chip, chip, chipping away at wood, the malleability of clay and wax, the challenge of combining objects from nature with manmade objects. I find the juxtaposition of signs along the road, buildings in the landscape, organic contrasted with geometric, and the result of unstoppable corrosion and decomposition of manmade structures and objects in the face of natural elements intriguing.

As an avid gardener, I like to focus on the textures, colors, forms, shapes, cycles, and potential found in nature. Observations in gardens and weed patches of tiny seeds, seedpods, leaf and flower buds, flower parts, and other plant fragments inspire many of my current works.

I am also interested in book forms; the structures, materials, the sequential nature of pages, and the conceptual and sculptural possibilities.