Jenny Smith is a multidisciplinary artist who aims to make the arts more accessible by initiating pieces where anyone, or forces of nature, can contribute.
Utilizing art as a “beginning rather than an end”, that is, as a vehicle to achieve objectives such as healing or awareness of cultural issues, rather than solely for aesthetic merits, she engages those who wouldn't ordinarily consider themselves artistic by establishing pieces that require no knowledge of the arts to participate in. Her practice also translates to engagement with the environment, through abstractions such as observing the endurance of natural forces juxtaposed against the ephemeral self, with rain washing away a self-portrait, or whimsically documenting the immersion of artistic materials in the ocean to collaborate with sea creatures.
Jenny's work has appeared in and on the cover of numerous literary publications, including Canada's iconic Room Journal. In 2021, one of her interactive sculptures 'IN YOUR HANDS' was mounted on the West Vancouver waterfront. Her upcoming solo show 'TO THE WATERS & THE WILD', will be at the Ptarmigan Art Gallery on Pender Island, BC, featuring works that engage island residents as co-creators, with the theme of the inner child. She is a member of the Southern Gulf Islands Arts Council.
Jenny acknowledges that the land on which she works and lives is the traditional and unceded territories of the Coast Salish Peoples, including SENĆOŦEN speaking W̱SÁNEĆ (Saanich) First Nations and Hul’quimi’num Treaty Group.