Peripheral ARTeries: Jeny brill

One of my earliest memories is making sculptures in the sand with plaster. I was very young and my neighbor was studying to be an art teacher. Where I grew up I was constantly surrounded by nature. The change of seasons were marked, in my mind, by the color of the sunlight, the hues of blue in the ocean, and the evolution of foliage.

I have long been attracted to mixed media art. The use of materials out of context combined with textures and color are chosen to create an element of surprise. My studio is filled with containers of fabric, papers, wires, ribbons, sequins, jewels and broken pieces of toys, computers and jewelry. This is the pallet I pull from as I construct an environment. About 20 years ago, when I was pregnant with my daughter, I was struck by an overwhelming “need” to make very feminine art. This is where my mermaids came from. I have never been attracted to the commercialized images of mermaids. Rather, I am drawn to those from different cultures and ethnicities where their uniqueness is more important than their beauty. From there I began to collect books on women role models.

My work is an unique assortment of women who’s voices bare listening to. The composition, texture and colors of each environment is intended to not only define the woman but welcome the viewer into her space. The boxes that contain each environment define the limitation of each women’s influence.

Hello Jeny and welcome to Peripheral ARTeries. Before starting to elaborate about your artistic production and we would like to invite our readers to visit https://www.jenybrill.com in order to get a wide idea about your artistic production, and we would start this interview with a couple of questions about your multifaceted background. You have a solid formal training and after having earned your B.S. in Fine Art from the Skidmore College, you nurtured your education with a MEd. that you receive from Xavier University: how did those formative years influence your evolution as an artist? In particular, how does your cultural substratum as well as your early life in Cape Cod where you were constantly surrounded by nature, direct the trajectory of your current artistic research?

First of all thank you for the opportunity to be a part of Peripheral ARTeries I’m honored by your interest in my work.

One of my earliest memories is making art on Cape Cod when I was 4 years old. My neighbor was studying to be an art teacher and took me under her wing. We went to the beach to make impressions in the sand and then poured plaster into them to create sculptures. We also did drawing and painting together. I was inspired by her work which was very detailed pen and ink drawings painted with water color.

Over the years I also took several formal painting classes. All of this experience happened during my summers on the Cape up until I was nine years old so I never really thought about being anything other than an artist. Growing up on the Cape I was constantly outside exploring. My imagination would create little rooms amongst the over grown cranberry bushes. The jetty on the beach became a whole house. Each rock’s shape would define what room it was. The colors in the sky on the Cape always attracted my attention. I was distinctly aware of the change in the color of the light as the months and seasons changed.

I chose to attend Skidmore college because it had the best art program in a liberal arts school. Having grown up in a small town I wasn’t ready to go to a city and study at an art school. My freshman year I took an experimental painting class with David Miller. That was where I learned I was a painter. I was always moved by the abstract more than the classical art. I painted on large canvases that were bigger than me and I painted with my hands, brushes, rope, anything that would give me the texture that I was looking for. I also added texture in my painting with a variety of objects. This was the beginning of my exploration into mixed media. Texture and color have navigated my work from the beginning and I attribute that to having grown up in an environment that was filled with texture, color and the freedom to explore.

The body of works that we have selected for this special edition of Peripheral ARTeries and that our readers have already started to get to know in the introductory pages of this article has at once captured our attention for the way you sapiently combined figurative with abstract, to explore the theme of women's identity. We have particularly appreciated the vibrancy of thoughtful nuances that mark out your artworks, and we like the way they create tension and dynamics: how did you come about settling on your color palette? And how does your own psychological make-up determine the nuances of tones that you decide to include in a specific artwork?

This recent work is extremely meaningful to me. I was raised by my mother and grandmother who were very intense, independent, strong women. My grandmother got me my first job, at a B&B, when I was nine and made me save every penny so that when I was in high school I could begin to travel. I studied Georgia O’Keeffe’s life and was inspired by her strength, passion and independence. Lady Diana was another woman who spoke to me as a strong and brave woman who didn’t need to raise her voice to be heard. So the current political climate makes me very motivated to restore some sort of balance by thoughtfully examining the role that women have played in our past and present. Some of the subjects come to me right away. Some I researched. As I research each woman I begin to “feel” color and texture that relates to her essence. I think in color and so it is a very intuitive process.

Your artworks often display such a coherent combination between sense of freedom and unique aesthetics. New York City based artist Lydia Dona once stated that in order to make art today one has to reevaluate the conceptual language behind the mechanism of art making itself: do you create your works gesturally, instinctively? Or do you methodically transpose geometric schemes? In particular, how importance does spontaneity play in your daily routine?

Using your language, spontaneity and instinct are the big players in my process. Once I have researched the woman I want to use in my work I look at many images of her for inspiration. I also look to find a “head shot” that reflects the energy I want to reflect in the space I create for her. Then I get to work in my studio. My studio is filled with papers, fabric, ribbons, and a lot of “stuff”.

Each woman has a color scheme already in my mind and I select materials that will enable me to create that environment for her. This part of the process is instinctual. The part of the process where I find myself being spontaneous is when I get to a point where things almost click. I then pull away from the piece I’m working on and look around my studio. Sometimes it happens immediately that I spot a material or a paper that will make the piece click. Sometimes there are moments where I step back and reevaluate whether what I created matched my intention. Sometimes it takes days to find just the right thing.

You often use materials out of context, that you sapiently combine with textures and color to create an element of surprise. As you have remarked in your artist's statement, your studio is filled with containers of fabric, papers, wires, ribbons, sequins, jewels and broken pieces of toys, computers and jewelry. Photographer and sculptor Zoe Leonard once stated, "the objects that we leave behind hold the marks and the sign of our use: like archeological findings, they reveal so much about us". We’d love to ask you about the qualities of the materials that you include in your artworks: as an how do you select them and what does you direct to combine found materials?

I love using materials out of context! When I’m able to achieve the environment I’m looking for by using materials out of context it feels like a conquest. As if the menagerie of materials I have in my studio are challenging me to be successful. I am constantly saving pieces of things from computer or watch pieces to parts of old jewelry, packaging from fruit, and anything that glitters.

There are random materials that I have kept for decades. Random objects draw me in to find their place in context with my art. For example, when I made the Michelle Obama piece I wanted her to have a watch but it didn’t feel right to paint it. So I looked around my studio. I have a little dish with dismembered computer pieces and found one small enough to work as a watch face. Mona Lisa has a shawl made from the plastic webbing the limes come in. It is sort of a mind set. In order to “use” materials out of context you need to be able to “see” materials out of context in every day living.

Your mermaids come from your need to create very feminine art, that struck you when you were pregnant with your daughter. As one the most recognized pioneer of feminist art, Italian painter Artemisia Gentileschi, your characters not fall prey to the emotional prettification of a beloved subject. In this sense, your artistic production is a genuine tribute to the issue of women's identity in our globalised still patriarchal and male oriented societies. How do you consider the role of women artists in our age? Do you think that your being a woman provides your artistic research with some special value?

I don’t see that art is an obligation to fulfill for the public. What bother’s me is that there are times when women’s art isn’t taken as seriously. Especially if it is art that might make you uncomfortable. Twenty years ago, when I started using mermaids in my art, they were not as popular as they are today. Yet the mermaids that are common today are almost always caucasian with big boobs and a tiny waist.

They’re seen as a form of decoration. It makes me a little uncomfortable seeing how commercialized the image of a mermaid has become. I say this as I look at the wall in front of me and it is filled with mermaids from all over the world. They are made from resources that are common to their culture. Some represent the spiritual beliefs of their culture. None of them are made to be pretty but all of them are beautiful. They have an intention that seems so honest to me and that is what motivates me to use the mermaid tales in my work. I want to honor these women and the mermaid tales represents the Goddess I believe all women have within them that makes them so strong.

It's important to remark the allegorical quality of your artworks: more specifically, the boxes that contain each environment define the limitation of each women’s influence. How would you consider the role of symbols and metaphors playing within your artistic research?

The boxes that are used to create the environments play many roles. They define a limit but not an end.

The box may contain a women role model but it only captures an essence of the person. As if you were looking at a photo. That’s why each environment has a quote from that person. There is also a frame within the box. The frames let us know what is important. Each box holds a voice inside that needs to be heard. There are many details within each environment that symbolize elements of the women depicted.

Marked out with such unique asthetics, your artworks deeply struck us for the way they incite the viewer to make new personal associations. Austrian Art historian Ernst Gombrich once remarked the importance of providing a space for the viewers to project onto, so that they can actively participate in the creation of the illusion: how important is for you to trigger the viewers' imagination in order to address them to elaborate personal interpretations? In particular, how open would you like your works to be understood?

Providing a space is what it is all about. My work asks the viewer to think and reflect which requires you to use your imagination. The quotes I include in each piece is to help the viewer appreciate the role each woman played in our world past or present.

Any time you communicate there is a giving and receiving of information otherwise it is just telling someone. The viewer plays an essential role in the life of my work.

Mexican artist Gabriel Orozco once stated, "the artists' role differs depending on which sociopolitical system they are living in.' As an artist particularly interested in different cultures and ethnicities rather than the concept of mere beauty, do you think that your artistic research responds to a particular cultural moment? Moreover, how do you consider the role of artists in our media driven contemporary age?

It is hard to not want to respond to the present sociopolitical culture in my country. That has been a catalyst and motivation for me. But I can’t just park myself there. The world is a big place and it is important to me to look beyond my culture for inspiration.

There are women all over the world, past and present, who have voices that need to be heard. I don’t just want to represent the ones that are well known. I also want to represent women that many don’t know like Mo’ne Davis and Temple Grandin. Art has an important role in society especially in our media driven societies. Most of the media requires you to be passive and take it all in while art requires you to go to it.

When you seek out art you are not being passive. Art asks you to question and contemplate, meditate and communicate across cultures, ethnicities, and political views.

How do you consider the nature of your relationship with your audience? And what do you hope your audience take away from your artworks? By the way, as the move of Art from traditional gallery spaces, to street and especially to online platforms increases — as Instagram — how would in your opinion change the relationship with a globalised audience?

The hardest part of making art for me is how solitary it can be. I have always been around a lot of musicians and they perform their art to the public and get immediate feedback from their audience. Whereas, a studio artist makes art, hopes it gets seen, and maybe gets feedback.

My art breathes when it has an audience. I have great respect for my audience because they are an important part of my art. Without an audience then I am only talking to myself. All that I ask from my audience is that you listen. Listen to my work with your eyes and think about it. Platforms, like Instagram, are amazing. I have connected with artists from all over the world. They enable me to immediately see what other artists are doing and communicate with them. That said, with the ability to access so much art I find it important to keep myself in check and not loose my focus.

We have really appreciated the multifaceted nature of your artistic research and before leaving this stimulating conversation we would like to thank you for chatting with us and for sharing your thoughts, Jeny. What projects are you currently working on, and what are some of the ideas that you hope to explore in the future?

Thank you. I truly appreciate your interest. In addition to the women role models I have two other projects I am working on. One I call the Barbie Project. These are also in boxes but much smaller and I hope to be able to use in an installation that looks at women’s roles in the 60’s and women’s roles today. How have they changed and how have they stayed the same.

Sometimes I also just want to paint so I have begun a series of landscape paintings on wood. As many can relate there are more ideas than time. I am extremely grateful for the ability and opportunity to make art.

An interview by Josh Ryder, curatorand Melissa C. Hilborn, curator