Everything I make is related to books. My artwork functions as visual storyboards or is used directly in books. Props and videos are inspiration for drawings. My paintings are meant to feel like pages from a larger narrative. Often, the formats through which stories are told are as important as the stories themselves

Ziomek, Jenny

English

Keck Graduate Institute

Claremont Colleges
Scholarship @ Claremont
CGU MFA Theses CGU Student Scholarship
12-16-2016
When I'm With You
Jenny Ziomek
This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the CGU Student Scholarship at Scholarship @ Claremont. It has been accepted for inclusion
in CGU MFA Theses by an authorized administrator of Scholarship @ Claremont. For more information, please contact
scholarship@cuc.claremont.edu.
Recommended Citation
Ziomek, Jenny, "When I'm With You" (2016). CGU MFA Theses. Paper 134.
http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_mfatheses/134
 Jenny Ziomek 
Artist Statement 
Everything I make is related to books.   My artwork functions as visual storyboards or is 
used directly in books.  Props and videos are inspiration for drawings.  My paintings are meant to 
feel like pages from a larger narrative.  Often, the formats through which stories are told are as 
important as the stories themselves. 
 Scale is an integral element of my work.  To me, looking at small things is sublime - the 
viewer is drawn close to examine a whole world of meaning contained in tiny lines.  The viewer 
then must consider her own scale, distance from the drawing and therefore her intimacy with it. 
Perhaps she imagines herself as a part of this world.  With this in mind, I’ve created a series of 
portraits of tiny, private moments.  Each one is rendered lovingly and intricately using a 
magnifying glass, honoring the private, humble moments they represent.  Because of their size, 
they demand to be looked at closely and by just one person at a time.  Against a large white wall, 
each painting is a miniature blip of someone’s consciousness and private life.  They are one 
small frame in a larger story. 
When I’m With You​  is a handmade book edition about memories of a relationship within 
a city.  I painted, drew, and collaged, using handmade props, photographs and video of actors 
performing scenes of the story as references.  The projection and layering processes mirror the 
inconsistent, fragmented and often absurd ways we remember.  The book is bound together, 
carefully and delicately, organized by memory.  They are not necessarily linear or logical, 
because they are meant to feel the way memories do.  New York ambient sound was combined 
with narration and piano in order to consider memory from the perspective of sound.  The sound 
was designed by Jake O’Neal.  
The final exploration of narrative in the show is a collaboration with Megan St. Clair. 
We created a series of accordion books using video of several nights’ sleep and records of 
dreams.  We chose to study intimacy and consciousness during sleep because this is the epitome 
of two people being as physically close and as mentally far apart as they can be.  
Traditional storytelling is often a singular perspective down a linear path.  In reality, there 
is poignancy alongside meaninglessness, humor born in sadness, loneliness within love.  My 
work acknowledges these contradictions and invites viewers to share in them.  My aim is for my 
work to be experienced as we do dreams and memory: by illuminating little condensed pockets 
of consciousness within a larger narrative that doesn’t connect in a traditionally logical and linear 
way, but rather through a more abstract thread of connection; a language of dreamlike clarity.  
 
                                                    ​www.jennyziomek.com  
917.971.3976 / jennyziomek@gmail.com  
 
 
 


When I\u27m With You

Scholarship@Claremont

Claremont CollegesScholarship @ ClaremontCGU MFA Theses CGU Student Scholarship12-16-2016When I'm With YouJenny ZiomekThis Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the CGU Student Scholarship at Scholarship @ Claremont. It has been accepted for inclusionin CGU MFA Theses by an authorized administrator of Scholarship @ Claremont. For more information, please contactscholarship@cuc.claremont.edu.Recommended CitationZiomek, Jenny, "When I'm With You" (2016). CGU MFA Theses. Paper 134.http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_mfatheses/134 Jenny Ziomek Artist Statement Everything I make is related to books.   My artwork functions as visual storyboards or is used directly in books.  Props and videos are inspiration for drawings.  My paintings are meant to feel like pages from a larger narrative.  Often, the formats through which stories are told are as important as the stories themselves.  Scale is an integral element of my work.  To me, looking at small things is sublime - the viewer is drawn close to examine a whole world of meaning contained in tiny lines.  The viewer then must consider her own scale, distance from the drawing and therefore her intimacy with it. Perhaps she imagines herself as a part of this world.  With this in mind, I’ve created a series of portraits of tiny, private moments.  Each one is rendered lovingly and intricately using a magnifying glass, honoring the private, humble moments they represent.  Because of their size, they demand to be looked at closely and by just one person at a time.  Against a large white wall, each painting is a miniature blip of someone’s consciousness and private life.  They are one small frame in a larger story. When I’m With You​  is a handmade book edition about memories of a relationship within a city.  I painted, drew, and collaged, using handmade props, photographs and video of actors performing scenes of the story as references.  The projection and layering processes mirror the inconsistent, fragmented and often absurd ways we remember.  The book is bound together, carefully and delicately, organized by memory.  They are not necessarily linear or logical, because they are meant to feel the way memories do.  New York ambient sound was combined with narration and piano in order to consider memory from the perspective of sound.  The sound was designed by Jake O’Neal.  The final exploration of narrative in the show is a collaboration with Megan St. Clair. We created a series of accordion books using video of several nights’ sleep and records of dreams.  We chose to study intimacy and consciousness during sleep because this is the epitome of two people being as physically close and as mentally far apart as they can be.  Traditional storytelling is often a singular perspective down a linear path.  In reality, there is poignancy alongside meaninglessness, humor born in sadness, loneliness within love.  My work acknowledges these contradictions and invites viewers to share in them.  My aim is for my work to be experienced as we do dreams and memory: by illuminating little condensed pockets of consciousness within a larger narrative that doesn’t connect in a traditionally logical and linear way, but rather through a more abstract thread of connection; a language of dreamlike clarity.                                                       ​www.jennyziomek.com  917.971.3976 / jennyziomek@gmail.com     

6.5  by 8.5 , artist book edition of 70https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_mfaexhibits/2591/thumbnail.jp

view of book, green and bronze covershttps://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgu_mfaexhibits/2592/thumbnail.jp

https://scholarship.claremont.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1153&amp;context=cgu_mfatheses

When I\u27m With You

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Keck Graduate Institute

Scholarship@Claremont

Keck Graduate Institute

Scholarship@Claremont

Scholarship@Claremont

Keck Graduate Institute