Jackie Penny

painting, works on paper

Jackie went to school, lives, works and creates in Worcester. It is where she is raising her family and where she designs for an unparalleled institution – the American Antiquarian Society – as part of her job. Working with historic materials in the graphic arts department has influenced her pieces, specifically how to translate dated materials for a contemporary audience.

Although her design work has been largely vocational, she has found that her creativity reinvents itself in the presence of her children. They encourage a sense of engagement, quiet joy, and recognition of the relationships between color and shape, art and audience, and precision and recklessness. Shortly after her twins were born in 2010, she wanted to write them a book about the special places in the city; the result was Goodnight Worcester, which was produced locally. She works to minister to the artistic life of her family through illustration, which she believes preserves this artistic mystery and dance across the page.

www.jackiepenny.com