Jennifer Walters

I AM BRINGING BACK THIS INITIATIVE!

Spurred from a challenge posted on ChallengeOftheDay.tumblr.com, I originally sent these letters, via snail mail in June of 2010. In the new year I will restart this challenge by repeating the mailings every month, randomly selecting recipients from the phone book and sending out more of these inspirational messages! Welcome to 2012!!

Original post: Send letters via snail mail to 5 people. 

I am a filter, an excavator. I am a searcher and a researcher. At times I uncover the truth and other times I disguise them. I depend on my work, as it depends on me.

I depend on my work to be my partner, to communicate with me and the viewer. To say the things I can’t. To articulate. To agree, or sometimes… we agree to disagree. I rely on my work to hold me to its standards. I depend on my work to tell me how I’m doing, to command me to the studio, or to look at me disappointingly when I have missed a rendezvous. My work expects things from me, and I expect things from my work. I expect it to perform, to engage, to pull and push. To leave me vulnerable and to convey those wounds. Every day in the studio is a new, different experience. One day, I accidentally gauge my hand with the broken end of a drill bit, and the next day I intentionally kneel in a spread of hard candy shards and hot sauce. On any given evening, I leave the studio and find in my pockets four drill bits, two screw caps, a protractor, and a roll of electrical tape. Some days, I work until exhaustion and can be found napping in a corner of my studio, laying on a pile stacked styrofoam, amongst dust, tools, and cheeto crumbs, and covered in a snuggie. And I depend on my work. I depend on my work to tell me, ‘keep it up,’ ‘you might need stitches for that,’ ‘if you’re scared, you need to do it,’ ‘Change first! Don’t mess up your nice clothes!’ or most importantly ‘Don’t even think about eating those stale Cheetos off the floor, Jenny.’ 

I was looking through some old files and found these photos from when I put together a presentation for my grandparents 60th anniversary party- This year it will be 65!

The first two are of my grandma and me in 1988 (I was 1) and 1991 (I was 4). The next is a photo of my grandma from 1943! I’m not sure about the following photo with the cow, but I thought it was really cute and funny. The last two are of my granddad who was a pilot and received the Distinguished Flying Cross for saving several people in the Korean War. Those last two pictures were taken in 1952 and 1954.

RVa, what!

I am a filter. I am an excavator. I am a searcher and a researcher. At times I uncover truths and other times I disguise. I depend on my work, as it depends on me.

I am interested in the ideas of connections amongst people, particularly in terms of communication. The way language of a piece is formed and used, interpreted and acquainted, imbibed or repressed are key questions about which I think when making work. In order to explore these ideas, I often take an idea that has been recurrent in my thoughts, dreams, conversations, etc and expand this into a range of audio, video, performance, and/or object-based art.

In one of my performance pieces, Weight, I focused on my feelings about the struggle of the roles of gender, especially the labor of taking on the normative characteristics of womanhood. In this performance, I held a 25 lb. bag of sugar above my head for as long as possible, the sugar presenting an emotional and physical weight of the imposed struggle and exertion.

I am a filter. I am an excavator. I am a searcher and a researcher. At times I uncover truths and other times I disguise. I need my work to live, as it needs me to become alive.

Me and Shannoh

This baby is trying to steal my hair style…