epilogue. – Jennifer Vallis

Jennifer Vallis

Instagram: @jennvallis_artist
Email: jlv123.jv@gmail.com

Jenn Vallis is a mixed media artist currently finishing their undergraduate degree majoring in Fine Arts. They participated in the group exhibition Printed Pattern in the University of Waterloo’s Artery Gallery, as well as an online performance art event called Performing Live, also through the university.

Their artwork explores memory and loss, identity/identification—in particular the self, as well as family relations. As a multidisciplinary artist, Jenn employs a variety of media including acrylic painting, collage, photography, and digital drawing.

Artist Statement

Throughout our lives, we make memories with family and friends—some of them stick and some we forget. Even the memories become blurred, reduced to specific moments or tiny details. Using a collage-based methodology that oscillates between the digital and the material, my work attempts to reassemble these memories broken with time.

These fragmented pieces make up the identity I have today with a focus on familial relations. How have these relationships molded who I am today and what aspects of them are now aspects of me?

The loss felt over time takes hold in my work, as the works are textured, misremembered, and overlapped by other experiences. I collage features based on family photographs incorporating them into a shifting figure. The figure is ever-changing, and the mark-making becomes evidence of self-expression.

Some of the artists that inspire me have also worked with memory and identity: Chuck Close, David Booth, and Sanya Kantarovsky. With Booth and Kantarovsky, it is their stylistic approaches that inspire—the bold mark-making and the use of paint in combination with other media. And Chuck Close, a master at the fragmented image, pushed the expectations of portraiture and its relation to identity and memory. With Close, I’m challenged to articulate my own identity, a counterpart to my family and the memories therein.

Gallery with seven painting of various sizes hung in a random pattern. Painting are colourful abstracted portraits is a fragment

Look at Me, 2022, acrylic and collage on seven panels

Painting of a colourful abstracted portrait with one eye collaged from a black and white photograph.

Look at Me, 2021-22, acrylic, collage, 30" x 24”

Painting of a colourful abstracted portrait a black and white photograph mouth collaged and yellow hair covering half the face

Look at Me, 2021-22, acrylic, collage, 30" x 24”

Painting of a colourful abstracted portrait of an elongated torso in profile, near the ear is a collaged photograph of a mouth

Look at Me, 2022, acrylic, collage, ink, 36" x 12"

Painting of a colourful abstracted portrait with two eyes collaged from black and white photographs.

Look at Me, 2021-22, acrylic, collage, 10" x 8"

Painting of a colourful abstracted portrait with an eye and mouth collaged from a black and white photograph.

Look at Me, 2021-22, acrylic, collage, 10" x 8"

Painting of a colourful abstracted portrait with two eyes collaged from black and white photographs.

Look at Me, 2021-22, acrylic, collage, 10" x 8"

Painting of a colourful abstracted portrait with a black and white photograph face collaged and the eyes and mouth crossed out

Look at Me, 2022, acrylic, collage, oil pastel, ink, 10" x 8"

Gallery with seven painting of various sizes hung in a random pattern. Painting are colourful abstracted portraits is a fragment
1 / 8
Look at Me, 2022, acrylic and collage on seven panels
Painting of a colourful abstracted portrait with one eye collaged from a black and white photograph.
2 / 8
Look at Me, 2021-22, acrylic, collage, 30" x 24”
Painting of a colourful abstracted portrait a black and white photograph mouth collaged and yellow hair covering half the face
3 / 8
Look at Me, 2021-22, acrylic, collage, 30" x 24”
Painting of a colourful abstracted portrait of an elongated torso in profile, near the ear is a collaged photograph of a mouth
4 / 8
Look at Me, 2022, acrylic, collage, ink, 36" x 12"
Painting of a colourful abstracted portrait with two eyes collaged from black and white photographs.
5 / 8
Look at Me, 2021-22, acrylic, collage, 10" x 8"
Painting of a colourful abstracted portrait with an eye and mouth collaged from a black and white photograph.
6 / 8
Look at Me, 2021-22, acrylic, collage, 10" x 8"
Painting of a colourful abstracted portrait with two eyes collaged from black and white photographs.
7 / 8
Look at Me, 2021-22, acrylic, collage, 10" x 8"
Painting of a colourful abstracted portrait with a black and white photograph face collaged and the eyes and mouth crossed out
8 / 8
Look at Me, 2022, acrylic, collage, oil pastel, ink, 10" x 8"

Interview Questions

What aspects of your life inspire your art?

Many aspects of my life inspire my art practice including my relationships, family, and experiences inspire me. A big part of the inspiration for my artwork is the emotion behind what I am creating from certain experiences, or in the moment of creation. The work really changes depending on the emotions happening while making the work and the environment I am in.

What are your preferred mediums and why are you drawn to them?

My preferred mediums are acrylic and collage on wood panels. I enjoy the sturdiness of painting on wood because there is no bounce as there is with canvas and I find the material doesn’t soak in the paint as much as canvas does. I prefer acrylic because of the speed at which it dries to be able to add layers. I also really enjoy the thickness and texture that can be created with acrylic paint. I enjoy using mixed media in my work and using collage allows me to mix more realistic cut-and-pasted forms into my painterly style.

Where do you see yourself in the future? How do you see your art practice evolving?

I hope to be able to continue my art practice in the future, even if it is not my main career. I hope to create my own studio space in my home once I’m out on my own and be able to continue to evolve my art practice with more personal works and commissioned works. Although I love the current path my practice has taken, I hope to also branch out into creating for others as well.

What do you want people to know about you as an artist?

I create my work based on my own emotions and experiences, but I hope to also connect with another person viewing the work. Although my work is very personal, I want someone else to be able to look at it and make their own assumptions, connections, and possibly see themselves in it. I enjoy the process of painting, but it does come with a hope of connecting with myself and the work connecting with someone else.

What is the most significant thing you will take away from your Fine Arts studies?

Allow yourself to struggle and make mistakes because some of the best accomplishments or eye-opening ideas/experiences come from it. Not everyone is going to love or understand your work, but the work is not meant for everyone, and you still need to be happy with your progress, abilities, and creativity. Finally, be confident in yourself because the work and consumption of it are stronger with a confident artist backing it.