Jennifer L. Hand / Habitation

May 24 - June 22, 2024

Habitation includes drawings, objects made with natural materials and hand-sewn wall hangings made with fabric with a history.

Artist Statement:
I live in a small house, on seven acres of earth, under an expanse of sky, surrounded by trees, and overlooking water. The work that I make acknowledges and translates the experience of sharing this habitat with all that was here before I arrived, all that lives here with me now, and all that will continue to live here after I’m gone. I wander, observe, gather, make drawings, and sew things together in order to remember that this is where I am.

These practices are both grounding and generative. Wandering opens the awareness and invites contemplation. Observing requires stillness and quiet. Gathering nourishes and calls forth gratitude. Drawing documents and interprets. Sewing binds together, repairs and protects. Fabric-with-a-history, donated, found and inherited, weaves the greater human community into the work, opening it to the larger habitat that we all share, human, animal, plant and mineral, under the same expanse of sky.

Biography:
Jennifer L. Hand lives in Dublin, VA in a small house in the woods with her husband and dog.  She coordinates the Foundations program for the School of Visual Arts at Virginia Tech where she is also an instructor. In her studio practice, she explores the relationship between human beings and the natural world through observation and metaphor. She holds a BFA from Calvin University in Grand Rapids, MI and an MFA in painting from Radford University.

Website: www.jenniferlhand.com
Instagram: @jlhand70