We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jenny K. Hager. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jenny K. below.
Hi Jenny K., thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
As a sculptor/artist/collaborator, I’ve been really lucky to work on a variety of meaningful projects. One that stands out and also one that I am currently revisiting is called “Flight: Rethreaded.” It was originally conceived/designed to bring awareness to the local organization “Rethreaded” and it was to be displayed at the UNF Lufrano Intercultural Gallery as a partnership with the organization. Rethreaded [https://rethreaded.com/about-us/] exists to restore choice, eliminate vulnerabilities to exploitation and break the cycle of generational trauma for survivors of human trafficking by providing employment, career development, and supportive services.
For the original project, I wanted to explore the idea of freedom and tackle the idea of human trafficking but through an uplifting lens. This was tough and I considered ideas for quite some time. Ultimately, I created a maquette of a birdcage and then worked with my students at UNF to create a monumental version collaboratively. Through community workshops, we invited people to make fabric birds from recycled T-shirts. We had about 250 birds all flying out of the cage.
In this work, I explore the juxtaposition of captivity and freedom through a large-scale installation inspired by Maya Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.” This piece, while initially conceived as an indoor installation, is now being reimagined for the outdoors, inviting both the natural world and human observers to engage in a dialogue about confinement, freedom, and the boundaries that separate them.
The original structure, a monumental birdcage, is a symbol that traditionally evokes feelings of entrapment and restriction. However, the cages’ bars will be adorned with branches and nests that extend beyond the boundaries, suggesting a sense of life and freedom that exists outside the confines. These nests will not be merely decorative; they will be functional habitats designed to attract live birds, transforming the piece into a dynamic, living sculpture. Bronze bowls, meticulously cast, will be nestled within these metal branches, serving as feeders, inviting birds to partake in the installation and blur the line between the observer and the observed.
The cage itself, made of steel, is crafted to resemble stained glass, an homage to the delicate yet resilient nature of freedom. Each “pane” of the cage captures light and color from the surroundings, casting vibrant patterns on the surrounding space and evoking a sense of spiritual transcendence. The stained glass effect symbolizes the beauty and fragility of freedom, reminding viewers that while freedom can be visually enchanting, it often requires careful navigation and understanding to grasp its essence fully.
By situating this piece outdoors, the work will gain a new dimension of interactivity. The live birds that come to feed from the bronze bowls embedded in the nests will add an element of unpredictability and life, making the sculpture not just a static object to be viewed but a living, breathing entity. This transformation will allow for real-time exploration of the themes of entrapment and liberation, echoing the sentiments of Maya Angelou’s poetry and inviting viewers to reflect on the nature of freedom in their own lives.
Through this installation, I hope to create a space for contemplation, where the boundaries between captivity and freedom are questioned, and where the natural world offers its own narrative on the human condition. The presence of the live birds will serve as a poignant reminder that while freedom may be sought within the confines of a cage, true liberation is found beyond the bars.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Jenny K. Hager is Chair of the Department of Art, Art History and Design and a Professor of Sculpture at the University of North Florida. She received her MFA in Sculpture and Digital Media from San Jose State University in San Jose, CA. Interested in a variety of processes and materials, she finds inspiration in dreams, objects from her childhood, gadgets, sea life and other curiosities. She is also very interested in collaboration, the spirit of community important in both her teaching practice and in her own work.
Before arriving at UNF, she had multiple jobs in the arts including digital restoration of photographic images for the University of Kentucky Medical Photography Archives, working as a pre-press operator for Quality Images in Jacksonville, FL, working as a Graphic Designer for DeAnza College in Cupertino, CA, teaching high school sculpture and ceramics/coaching swimming at Prospect High School in Saratoga, CA, and serving on the Adobe team to coordinate the first Zero One Digital Media Festival in San Jose, CA.
Her work has been exhibited across the country and abroad, including the “Du Bist Eine Kartoffel” performance at the Industriemuseum in Brandenburg an der Havel, Germany, the ”Fe” exhibition at the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design in Wroclaw, Poland, the “Elysium Project” in Dresden, Germany, the “Cymru Ironstone Castle Exhibition” in Kidwelly, Wales, the “Uguns Zimedams: Drawing Fire” exhibition in Talsi, Latvia, and the “Volcano Furnace + Flight of the Phoenix Project” at Il Giardino di Daniel Spoerri in Seggiano, Italy. Hager’s most recent national projects include several collaborative large-scale outdoor sculptures for her hometown of Shelbyville, KY, including a full-scale forged bronze horse, a collaboration with Lance Vickery. Hager also created a twenty-foot-tall giraffe sculpture for the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens. Additionally, she co-curated/facilitated a major Pandemic project, “the ArtWork(ers) United Project, a socio-political response/digital film project/drive in movie experience with over 100 international artists.
Hager’s vison and mission is to bring Jacksonville to life with sculpture, beginning with UNF’s campus and extending to the community of Jacksonville and beyond. Since moving to Jacksonville in 2006, Hager and partner, Lance Vickery, have installed over 90 pieces of large-scale sculpture in the area (some permanent and some temporary). In 2014, Hager created Sculpture Walk Jax, a registered 501(c)3 with the mission of bringing outdoor sculpture to the city of Jacksonville. Sculpture Walk, Inc., has hosted over 36 outdoor sculptures, bike racks and sculptural benches by international, national and local artists in Jacksonville at Main Street Park, Klutho Park, James Weldon Johnson Park and the Jax Chamber of Commerce. Hager and Vickery also oversee the UNF Seaside Sculpture Park in Jacksonville Beach, which hosts five large scale sculptures annually by UNF undergraduate students.
www.jennykhager.com
www.havicstudios.org
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
Creative minds are the way of the future. As processes get streamlined and the world becomes mechanized and technological, nothing will replace the creativity and out-of-the-box thinking that drives an artist or creative person. I really love the book, “A Whole New Mind,: Moving from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age” by Daniel Pink. We need to support artists in the same way we support STEM academics. Art should have this status and the resources that come with. it. We should be thinking about “STEAM” and encouraging creativity in education, in our workforce and in the political sphere. Art has the incredible ability to do SO MANY amazing things. Through art, we can be innovative, we can create beauty, we can demonstrate ugly truths, we can learn empathy, we can find joy as well as sorrow, we can advocate, and we can heal.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
So many things about being an artist are rewarding to me. The process itself is meditative. I can get lost in the studio in terms of time….its so nice to get into that “flow” state. I really value that kind of time and energy. Another really beautiful thing is the community itself. I’m lucky in that I’m part of multiple artist communities – with my students and colleagues at UNF, with my local art community here in Jacksonville, with my artist friends across the globe (people I’ve met through my own education and collaborations), and my partnership with my husband and partner in all-things sculpture, Lance Vickery. I am also very interested in learning processes, techniques, and new ways of thinking. I LOVE tools and the idea that I can continue learning for my entire career is a beautiful thing. Collaboration is another key component of my practice and something I find very rewarding. I think its amazing to work with other people and share skills and ideas that result in something spectacular and bigger than anything I could do on my own. Lastly, I think it is rewarding to help others find this passion and I am able to do this through teaching.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://jennykhager.com/
- Instagram: jennae76
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hagervickery
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenny-hager-5059106/
- Youtube: jennae76
- Other: https://havic.org/about/
