Jen Snoeyink | Hope Trees, Solo Exhibition opening December 14
Jen Snoeyink | Hope Trees
Solo Exhibition
Opening December 14, 3-5pm
On view December 14 to January 2, 2020
By appointment only
Geo Gallery
1545 Victory Blvd
Glendale CA 91207
Jen Snoeyink presents “Hope Trees,” an inspiring, richly immersive exhibition first conceptualized during the La Tuna Fire, which occurred near her own home. Snoeyink took fallen branches from drought-stricken trees wrapped in recycled yarn and fabric, and stood the branches on end as a symbol of hope for those affected by the devastating fires, and as a reminder that life will sustain and continue after devastation.
The artist says she sought to viscerally express the idea that “Nature’s strength is unbounded.” The fiber wrappings are lushly colored, patterned and designed with precision and grace. Standing like vibrant, poised dancers, the branches of Snoeyink’s wrapped trees rise as a counterpoint to an ashen landscape. She uses fiber as a painter’s palette, artistically articulating the form of a tree, and documenting nature’s poetic response to fire. By enveloping branches in what she calls a “makeshift blanket of repurposed textiles,” Snoeyink incorporates fiber art, assemblage, photography, and mixed media as an artistic expression of the environmental issue of wildfire, both in California, and elsewhere.
Snoeyink worked with Nature photographer Kerry Perkins to document the site-specific installations Snoeyink created in the Woolsey fire affected areas last February. These photographs, the trees and an installation will be on view in Snoeyink’s exhibition.
In August, Snoeyink created Hope Trees as a temporary installation for Burbank Schools. Since that time, she has wrapped Hope Trees for residents affected by the Saddle Ridge Fire. The artist’s vividly colorful, softly wrapped images of life rising from the ashes create a rainbow of light against darkened land. Snoeyink had started the project a few years ago when she had created yarn trees as a project with Thomas Jefferson Elementary School students; She has been “overwhelmed” by the support to create something new and beautiful through the fiber art experience, adding color and life to the trees.
Describing herself as an “arborist, optimist, and mindful maker,” Snoeyink shapes temporary art installations as tactile emotional responses to both social and environmental issues, with the intention of lifting viewers’ spirits and raising awareness.
About Jen Snoeyink
A multi-talented design professional, Snoeyink has worked in a wide range of creative fields from New York to Los Angeles. With a solid basis in design, she has created works in decorative painting, murals, and scenic art, and has most recently expressed her art through handmade fiber art and fine art paintings. Working in fiber, Snoeyink shapes art that includes felting, painted linen, silk, and lace flowers, as well as building evocative assemblages that include both recycled objects and woven fiber materials.
She shares her creativity with her community through public projects engaging both children and adults. She holds an MFA in Scenic Design from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
