Jenny Schmid

Available Works

Jenny Schmid is a professor of printmaking at the University of Minnesotta, and deeply influenced by the history of printmaking; in particular, Medieval and Renaissance engraving and images of social commentary and political satire by Goya and Breugel. Schmid blends these historical pastiches using contemporary techniques such as digital print and animation. Early themes are combined with 21st century popular culture that reference feminist non-fiction, rock music, the Czech and Slovak Republics, and film noir. Using this diverse artistic language Schmid creates a personal imaginary world, a gender utiopia she calls Dzenska Republika (“Repulic of Jenny” in Czech/Slovak).

This world comes to life in her recent works, a world where the girls ride skateboards, play rock music, sail ships, and ride bikes while the boys sit under trees, read books and day dream. It is a world with Medieval Eastern European castles, mythical water creatures and anthromoporphic beasts that coexist with the humans. This world represents Schmid’s continuing interest in contemporary themes of politics, idealism and desire.

Jenny Schmid was born and raised on Bainbridge Island, Washington. Since graduating from the University of Michigan with an MFA in printmaking and painting, she has received numerous grants and fellowships including a Fulbright Grant to study in Bratislava Slovakia. This Fall Schmid had her first solo museum exhibition, Jenny Schmid: The Vistas of Gender Utopia, at The University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson AZ. Her work can be found in the collections of The University of Arizona Museum of Art, Tucson AZ; The Spencer Art Museum, Kansas City MO; The Minneapolisi Insitute of Arts, Minneapolis MI; The Detroit Insititue of Arts, Detroit MI, and City of Seattle Arts Commission, Seattle WA.

• Recent Exhibitions: Fountain of Youth, December 2008; The Personal Politic, August 2005

• Related Artists: Michael Barnes, Tony Fitzpatrick, Kurt Kemp, Michael Krueger, Hibiki Miyazaki