JEAN BRENNAN
Still from performance video, I Am As I Dwell
JEAN BRENNAN
Jean Brennan received her MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Sierra Nevada University in 2019. She holds a Masters degree in Communications Design from Pratt Institute and a Bachelors in World Literature and Cultural Studies from the University of California at Santa Cruz. In 2003, she completed an apprenticeship in ecological horticulture with the Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems at UCSC. This diverse course of study informs a love for plants and language and a transdisciplinary approach to making. Jean has exhibited in solo and group shows in New York, Amsterdam, California, the Hudson Valley, and Nevada. She is a Professor in the Graduate MFA Communications Design Department at Pratt Institute.
As an interdisciplinary thinker, Brennan works at the intersection between ecology, language, alchemy, and the body. Recurring themes include a fascination with atmospheric forces, plants, phenomenology, and color. Using the lyrical essay as method, she loosely assembles scientific research, historical and popculture references with personal reflection, to explore our relationship to the natural world, interspecies dependency, and models of resiliency. Brennan uses design to publish, archive, and visually score projects that may include installation, video, sculpture and performance.
I Am As I Dwell
This video is a poetic response to the wind, as filmed during a snowstorm on Lake Tahoe. Inspired by the writings of Martin Heidegger, Tim Morton, and Joseph Grange, it explores the origin of certain words and what they reveal about the entangled relationship between our bodies and our environment. It asks: how does living in a time of climate uncertainty affect your perception of self—of finding place?
Rips, caused by the wind, in the mylar structures were marked with red metallic tape and accompany the video install. Several prints of the historic 2017 blizzard at Lake Tahoe are also available.
Performed with Kelly Wallis
Lake Tahoe, NV
recent work below
Stills from performance video
contact Melhop Gallery º7077 for available print work and further information
hello@melhopgallery.com
Jean Brennan
Exhibitions/Performances
2023 Field Notes, 3 woman Eco exhibition at the Atrium Gallery at the Truckee Donner Recreation Center, Truckee, CA
2022 Fragile Rainbow: Traversing Habitats, Ecoartspace, curated by Sue Spaid. Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, Brooklyn, NY. Group show.
2021 Shelter, Melhop Gallery º7077. Lake Tahoe, CA. Group show.
2020 Out of Thin Air. Research Open House, Pratt Institute. Received Innovation Award.
2019 Forces of Nature, Create Community Gallery, Cold Spring, NY. Invitation group.
2019 Mother Nature Calls, Tahoe Gallery, Incline Village, NV. SNU MFA solo show.
2019 Governance, Design Objects & Visual Language. Research Open House, Pratt Institute.
2019 Small Works, Catalyst Gallery, Beacon, NY. Juried group.
2018 Performing Vowels, in the note of blue. BAU, The Beacon Room, Beacon, NY. Solo show.
2018 Rock Pelts. Collaborative Concepts, Hudson Beach Glass, Beacon NY. Juried group.
2017 The Beaufort Scale, screening. The Sukkah Project, Beacon, NY
2017 I Talk to the Wind, Sagehen Creek Field Station, Tahoe National Forest, CA.
2017 If Only You Could See What I’ve Seen, Sagehen Creek Field Station, CA.
2016 We Are the Walls Talking, “Writing On It All” Festival, Governor’s Island, New York, NY. Invitation, collaboration with Edwin Torres. CollSet
2016 Language as Felt Gesture, workshop/installation. “WORD” Hudson Valley Center for Contemporary Arts (HVCCA), Peekskill, NY. Invitation group. CollSet
2016 Warmly Yours, workshop, installation. HVCCA, Peekskill, NY. Invitation group. CollSet
2015 Another Pavilion, performance. HVCCA, Peekskill, NY. Invitation group. CollSet
2015 Drawing a Line with my Body, 3-channel video sculpture. New Museum, NYC Juried group. CollSet
2015 Drawing a Line with my Body, 3-channel video sculpture. Stedelijk Museum/Trouw, Amsterdam, NL. Juried group. CollSet
2014 The Usual Pavilion, performance. Movement Research Fall Festival, Danspace, St. Marks Church, NYC. Invitation group performance. CollSet
2013 Rabbits Don’t Lay Eggs, performance with choreographer, Susan Osberg, Beacon, NY
2012 Aunt B’s Cupcakes, Amplified Action, Skylight Gallery, Brooklyn, NY. Juried group.
2012 Some Girls of Beacon, Howland Cultural Center, Beacon, NY. Invitational group.
2011 La Poubelle Agréée, Center for Digital Arts, Peekskill, NY.
2010 2+1 Pratt Design Faculty Show, Pratt Manhattan Gallery, New York, NY. Group.
2010 Aunt B’s Cupcakes, EcoArtSpace Benefit, Exit Art, NYC. Group.
2009 Best of Beacon Open Studios, Rhinebeck Savings Bank, Beacon, NY. Juried group.
2009 Experimental Drawing, Garrison Art Center, Garrison, NY. Group.
2008,09 Limited Run, Open Space Gallery, Beacon, NY. Group.