Hanna Jennings is a Texas-born artist and designer based in New York City. A recent MFA graduate, her multidisciplinary practice spans painting, photography, videography, fashion, and furniture design. Hanna’s work explores themes of spirit, transformation, and sustainability, often incorporating recycled and repurposed materials. Her recent projects focus on the personality of chairs, environmental concerns like pink pollution, and the concept of blooming as a metaphor for growth and renewal. Through her art, she emphasizes the importance of upcycling and environmental awareness across various creative forms. @hannajennings21
Where were you born and raised? How did is shape your artistic vision and your worldview? I was born in Waxahachie, Texas, which is in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. When I was 6, I moved to a small town known as Tyler, the Rose Capital.
Tyler has a lot of nature- big trees, lakes, and lots of flowers. It always kept me balanced within it. I remember how the flowers in Tyler bloom so vividly, I fell in love with color. My parents are always encouraged my sister and I to be and express ourselves, and I am eternally grateful to those two amazing humans.
When did you begin to recognize art as a vital part of your life, and how did your early experiences influence your relationship with creativity?
I've always been in love with art. Through my mom's crafts and creativity, through my dad's structure and kindness, I knew it had value. When I started to photography in middle school, the art of expression peeked my interests. I didn't know much about abstraction and the art of individuality until college. However, in middle school and high school, my teachers encouraged to give falling in love with my art a chance. To really sit down and to enjoy the process of becoming one with self. To value your own sense of expression. I really feel in love when I started to see my own reflection in my work, and not just a "copy" of something.
What does a day in your studio typically look like? How do your materials and daily routines support your creative process? My typical day involves painting, emails, and woodshop at least once a week. I usually have 10 different paintings going all at once, alongside a larger sculpture or piece I have in the works. My materials involve oil, spray paint, linen for painting. Sculpturally, wood and metal are important. I also do quite a bit of studying and reading in my studio. I find qualitative research to be valuable in the studio, alongside the allowance of play and the art of just "being."
What projects are you at work on at the moment? And what themes or ideas are currently driving your work? My "Home" series as well as a look at sustainable fashion, femininity, and spirituality. While "Home" became a larger and more emotional study over my inner woman and my colorful intuition and imagination, my new series "Tenebrism - Ladies in Bloom" reflects the life of women, their bodies and how "she" styles it alongside personality and how that can become a light to others, inspiring expression, empowerment and individuality.
When viewers encounter your work, what emotions or connections do you hope they take away? I'd love to express togetherness through individuality. Like each person, each piece is unique alone, but when collaged all together, it makes something beautiful, like a more unified world, comprised of stories and reflections of "soul" the perhaps others might relate to. Art creates a less shallow relationship between you, the artist, and the viewer.
Are there any artists—past or present—you’d love to have a conversation with, and why? I would love to sit down with a couple, so to name a few, I think Haley Joseph, Jade Fadojutimi, Vivienne Westwood, Es Devlin, Jack Coulter, Frank Gehry, John Singer Sargent, and Jean Michel Basquiat would be an interesting group of people. There are so many others, but for right now and to keep it short, I think those are my choices.
How do disciplines like music or dance influence your artistic practice? In my art practice, they go hand in hand. Absolutely! My sister and I, though she continued into a dance career while I pursued art, were always impacted and inspired by music, literature, and dance. I think the body and senses grace my art a bit. Like a dancer and musician, I like to feel the way a musical note or vibration makes itself known on a canvas. My abstractions are more influenced by music and dance than anything. Like documenting gestures and rhythm onto a canvas. Think of a music video a bit. There is the music, but then there later comes the choreography (body) and costumes and details, and the overall picture begins to emerge.
Looking back on your journey from Tyler, Austin, to New York City, what aspects of each place have impacted your work and life as an artist? My hometown of Tyler really taught me to value the little things like flowers, family, nature, and home life outside of the city. Austin, where I went to college at the University of Texas at Austin, really taught me the value of community and connections, as well as expression. NYC taught me how to combine those things into something called art.
Has there been a particular project that tested you creatively or emotionally? How did you navigate those challenges? My chair known as Scrappy Dog was a long project I really challenged myself to sit with and on for a couple years. In my architecture class at UT (taught by a fabulous architect and public speaker, Larry Speck) he'd mentioned this quote, "Before you can build a home, you must first learn how to build a chair." I really thought about that quote while pursing my art career. Logically, yes, you will absolutely need to know how to build a chair before build a physical home. But I left that lecture with a new mindset. I thought about it metaphorically and as a woman pursing her home in art. My chair, named after my dog Archie short for architecture and it's German translation of "brave and bold" I thought about "scrappy dog." We love antiquing and giving discarded materials a chance to be reinvented. After welding a model version of the chair right before graduating from my undergrad, a baby version of this idea, I was determined to build an actual chair for myself. I wanted to build myself up to be able to pull it up to the table and listen and communicate with an open heart to the world and people around me with their own chairs. I wanted to bring something I deemed important.. After 2 1/2 years of discussing how to build this chair, I was led on an adventure of pulling chairs up next to artists, architects, designers, and engineers to learn about the best approach to building this thing, from where and how to get the scrap metal, to my angles and approach to the design itself. After it was built, I reached a new sense of accomplishment. I didn't end up getting the chair finished until graduating from my MFA from the New York Academy of Art, but really valued the lessons I learned in between listening and learning from the artists and designers around me.
Who have been some of the most meaningful mentors or teachers in your life, and how have they shaped your art? My high school teachers were super motivating and inspiring teachers and I keep them close to my heart. One, Gerald Roulette (now showing in Oregon) taught me technical skills and photography. He really inspired me to look at things differently and to never give up. I am so proud of him and honored to have been a student of his. My other teacher, Ms. Wheat was and still is empowering as well and encouraged "play" and creativity. Both became such important mentors for me, especially during my college and MFA years. I really couldn't have asked for two better teachers. My art professors in college (Troy Brauntuch and Pehr Smith) really challenged me and pushed me in the right directions. They really valued my expression and I really valued and appreciated them in return. They also taught me to continue to have faith and to not give up on the art of believing in yourself and your art.
Sustainability is clearly important in your work. Can you share a moment or memory when nature inspired your creativity or your commitment to environmental awareness? Yes. I love cleaning up and turning objects into something new. I like how nature can grow with things or on. I try to pick up liter on the streets. The lack of nature in the city caused me a bit of anxiety at first. But most of us make art alongside Mother Nature, not against. I've really learned how to help "her" by trying to do my part in picking up the mess humans have created and bringing awareness. I'm a Scorpio, so a water sign. I really love water! Oceans, puddles, rainy days. I remember one day walking around and spotting a hot pink polluted puddle in Brooklyn near a car mechanic shop. After that day and puddle, I spotted a blue one, and then a green, then an oil spill, and then so many other colors. I think my natural instinct was to research why they weren't pure water. I thought about clarity of water, but also how humans have changed the environment in weird ways. I use the term "Bloom" to describe to humanness of people in comparison to a flower. How we like plants, all need the basic elements like water, good soil, and light in order to keep growing and blooming, to try to acknowledge Mother Nature's garden and body, and how we tend to it.
With the rise of AI and new technologies, how do you see the balance between digital tools and traditional handmade art evolving? What values do you hold most important in your own creative practice? Ahh AI...mixed feelings. I'm not the biggest fan of AI. I don't hate it and will use it when I need to, but I think I value self made rabbit holes. I'm a soulful human and always value authenticity above a lot of things. When it comes to art, I do see it's value, but try to remain true to my own ideas, experiences, and words to get to know myself through others and myself, before needing to turn to the computer. However, it can help provide reliable information on occasions, so I am not for discarding of it. The amount of energy AI bots use apparently is equivalent to tossing out a bottle of water, so I've been trying to limit myself and really value conversations, help, and words from reality and people, and not just a computer. But like I said, it has its benefits and shouldn't be thrown out.
Exploring ideas, art and the creative process connects me to… people and the way they feel. I am an empath and feel deeply about people, places, and the art they bring to the table. I really love hearing about cultures, personal experiences, and how people create in order to communicate, when sometimes words have a hard time doing it. I love how a bunch of people can all be staring at one painting, but have separate experiences, but at the same time, can come together to share and learn to understand one another from a more intimate perspective.
