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| Portrait of Joanna at Bash Bish Falls, MA, 2010 |
Joanna Jennings is an award-winning visual artist who studied photography and modern studies at Simon's Rock College in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. She has since exhibited her photography at various nonprofit venues throughout the northeast including Delaware Arts Alliance in Narrowsburg, NY; Artist's for Art Gallery (AFA) in Scranton, PA; Rochester Contemporary Arts Center (ROCO) in Rochester, NY; as well as The Bidwell House Museum in Monterey, MA. Her images won her a finalist prize at the ROCO Member's Exhibition (2004), and were twice a grand prize winner at the Monterey Photography Exhibit and Contest (2007, 2009). In April 2010 her work was reviewed and featured in Sinescope, Georgia Perimeter College's online journal of the arts. Joanna's photographs also appear in several private collections.
Ms. Jennings' work is predominantly made up of self-portraiture and abstract self-portraiture. Throughout her oeuvre, she uses herself and other surrogates as subjects to explore archetypal themes often with an historical bent; construction of character, autobiography, and narrative are secondary themes that she considers. Her use of the techniques of double-exposure, long-term exposure, and serial imagery further distinguishes her work. While Joanna has started to utilize digital technologies for processing and printing, she still relies on a twin-lens reflex film camera for her image-making. The camera's built-in self-timer and long cable release that she attaches to the shutter allow her the maximum time to arrange herself during the shoot. The twin-lens camera also enables her to capture two, sometimes three exposures before she advances it; "Rarely, if ever, do I use Photoshop to achieve this technique," says Jennings, "I conceive of the image this way as I am working." Joanna also dons a point-and-shoot digital for more spontaneous image-making and as tool for pre-visualization before her more formal film shoots, but does not believe it can or should ever entirely replace her film camera.
Joanna Jennings also works in the museum and public history fields. She has been a museum associate, curatorial assistant, administrator, assistant director, and a consultant for several small museums and historical societies in western Massachusetts, where she gained experience in museum management and nonprofit administration. She has interpreted docent-led historic house tours; programmed, curated, designed, and interpreted art and history exhibitions; conducted media, marketing, and creative services; administered collections care and cataloging; assisted in educational programming and program development; as well as fund raising, museum bookkeeping, and grant writing. Joanna is currently seeking a certificate in museum management at the Virginia Association of Museums (VAM). She lives in Richmond, VA with her boyfriend, tabby cat, and jack russell.