In 2018, Jenny completed her associate degree in graphic design. She struggled to find a job in this market and contemplated going back to school. She was inspired to apply to Point Park after attending a friend’s graduation from there. With encouragement from her biggest role model, her mom, Jenny applied and got accepted to their BFA program for graphic design. A week before starting, she heard about their photo program and decided to make the switch, putting herself on track to get a BFA in photography.
Jenny admits she’s always had a passion for photography, but it’s hard finding a good college with a photo program. Art schools in Pittsburgh such as Pittsburgh Filmmaker’s or the Art Institute of Pittsburgh that had photo programs have shut down, leaving less resources for those in the community who want to seriously pursue photography.
Point Park has provided Jenny with the resources and guidance she needed to pursue this career. She said the professors are always hands on deck and there for you, happy to help you and the other artists grow. Jenny has also had work shown in Point Park’s juried art shows.
This past year a work from her piece “Society in the Shadows” was chosen to be in the Stranger Than Known show. This work covers Charlie, a teenage girl trying to find her identity through gender. Name at birth Cheyanne, Charlie uses both she and he pronouns. Charlie prefers to wear more masculine clothes and is trying to break away from the female stereotypes society push.
Continuing to work with themes of identity, Jenny is exploring her own identity in new projects. She is taking old family photographs and on a path to recreate them to capture the memories that arose from the interactions by staging the photographs in the present.