Jenny Helen Hartt is a Philadelphia-based artist who also maintains a Design Thinking and health innovation consultancy. Jenny Hartt spent a lot of time in non-profits managing and investing in technology to extend life, including with tens of millions of dollars of seed venture capital. But as a new virus spread around the world, she had vivid dreams of painting and externalizing art that she had long made in her mind. She now consciously recognizes art-making needs to be part of the conversation of where technology and humans are heading next.
This site, JennyHartt.com launches on the 3 year anniversary of beginning her art-making. Jenny let the first 3 years take her where they will, as she worked to handle new media and studied at Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (for a Certificate in Figure Studies) and at Rhode Island School of Design (for a Certificate in Painting Studies), while sitting with ideas like: “Will robots be like consumers or animals in the new world order?” “Will they have money to speculate and buy art and music?” “What does solitude in our political, technological and social moments look like?”
She also went through 6 major surgeries in this time, sharing this portfolio on the eve of a 7th, while looking at an 8th one and trying to be done. She may never know the full effect on her art of personal medical trauma, it being like a stalker-muse, but if the floating logo also bears a resemblance to going into an MRI machine, that would track.
The last thing she would like you to know before you peruse the site is: She hopes to never grow comfortable with referring to herself in the 3rd person.
The art on the site is organized by PRACTICE THREADS, below, and by THEMES, above, in the header navigation bar.
“Take a suggestion” someone said to Jenny when she got sober many years ago. A BIG GOAL of this site, which is itself an art project, is THE SUGGESTION BOX that follows. There is a paper book version at Open Studio visits, too! If you would like me to know about YOUR work, please make that the suggestion!
Are there artists, music, books and films I should know about? Do themes here remind you of something? Suggestions you make may manifest here as responses to them in visual art, short animations or blog writings.
^ PRACTICE THREAD: Figurative Work and Portraiture
^ PRACTICE THREAD: Drawing and Texture
^ PRACTICE THREAD: Color and Drawing
^ PRACTICE THREAD: Design and Color
^ PRACTICE THREAD: Drawing and Places
^ PRACTICE THREAD: Oil Media
^ PRACTICE THREAD: Aqueous Media
^ PRACTICE THREAD: Abstracting
^ PRACTICE THREAD: Collage Ideation
