Jordann McKenna's Projects

MFA Student

Major: Painting

Graduation Year: 2023

Artist Statement:

My practice is directly influenced by my immediate surroundings and
experiences. I have always gravitated towards painting but I navigate different mediums such as analog and digital photography to explore my relationship to painting. I use painting and the lens to capture moments that embrace dualities. I am often looking for scenes that quietly reiterate and speak to what is going on in my life. In this process I’ve found that things are entirely more interwoven and complicated than I initially thought.
It’s this duality that can find beauty in everyday moments. In my practice I capture
feelings or experiences that are both diaristic and universal or oscillating between them. Noticing small moments and compositions changed the way I view the world on a daily basis but having great lighting in my apartment really set the stage. Because of this shadows have become a fascination of mine and their presence is consistent yet always
changing. They have a quiet power to imply and embrace multiplicity. They are both the
absence and presence of light. Through depictions of the interior of my home I am
exploring how shadows become an intersection of interior and exterior. At this
collapsing of thresholds I imply the complicatedness of life and human relationships through depictions of the presence of landscape in interior spaces.

Biography:

Jordann McKenna is a multidisciplinary artist from Ithaca, New York and she
was born with her eyes wide open. Eager to see the world since her first day here she understands the power of observation. Coming from the southern tier of New York she visited waterfalls, hiking trails, and gorges that would ignite her fascination with nature. Later attending undergraduate school in the Hudson River Valley she knew that her love for landscapes would follow her no matter where she lived. Her work focuses on the intersections and relationship between the natural world and her own life. She uses
personal experience to inform her practice both through painting and photography she
externally processes life through art. She obtained her Bachelor’s of Science in Visual
Arts at the State University of New Paltz in 2021. Directly after that she attended Maine
College of Art and Design to pursue her Masters of Fine Arts. Once the program is
complete she plans to continue her studio practice and teach. She currently resides in
Portland, Maine where she insists that taking a swim in the ocean, no matter the time of
year, will solve all of her problems.