Carol Jenkins
All my life I have loved the out of doors—especially wild places. There is something unpredictable about wild terrain, exciting, a little risky. It is also why I am drawn to abstract painting. It is the unexpected that delights: a wildflower pushing up through decaying leaves, an accidental smear on the canvas that leaves a beautiful mark I did not try to make. These are gifts that satisfy me.
Just like a forest, an abstract painting grows into itself and cannot be known ahead of time: it is a call and response, moment by moment, and can never be replicated (although I have unsuccessfully tried). My painting process starts with spontaneous mark-making, then the laying on of bold shapes, followed by layers of acrylic or oil paint that I draw into and scrape away. Once an interesting line or color pulls the painting in a direction I want to follow, I build the layers of paint more deliberately into a composition that incorporates both the quiet expanse and bountiful energy of the wilderness I love.
The process of naming a painting is also important to me. I want the name to be a window into the painting that also allows the viewer to move anywhere else they want to go. I often spend a lot of time looking at a painting, engaging in an intuitive process of association until a word or idea pulls me toward a name that feels right. Playing with words is similar to exploring with paint: it is the unexpected that moves me.
My work has been shown in galleries across the West Coast and has been collected nationally.
Selected Solo and Two-person Exhibitions
• 2021 Gallery at Wilder, Orinda, CA, solo show
- 2019 Montclair Gallery, Oakland, CA, solo show
- 2018 Donkey & Goat Winery, Berkeley, CA, solo show
- 2017 Siskiyou Art Museum, Dunsmuir, CA, Sinking into Wilderness
- 2017 Liberty Arts Gallery, Yreka, CA: Places to Go, People to Meet
- 2016 Taylor Blue Design Showroom, Berkeley, CA
- 2016 Yves Fine Arts and Jewelry, Berkeley, CA
- 2013 Marvin Gardens Real Estate Office, Berkeley, CA
- 2012 Emeryville Public Market, Emeryville, CA
Selected Group Exhibitions
- 2021 Turtle Bay West Coast Biennial, Redding, CA juried exhibition
- 2021 Maude Kerns Art Center, Eugene, OR, juried exhibition
- 2020 Liberty Arts Gallery, The Lyric juried show
- 2020 Marin Society of Artists, CA, Celebration of Art 2020 juried show
- 2020 Danville Theatre Art Gallery, CA, California Dreaming juried show
- 2020 Las Laguna Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA, Small Works-Big Talent juried show
- 2020 Danville Theatre Art Gallery, Color Play 2 curated show
- 2019 Art Works Downtown, San Rafael, CA Small Works juried show
- 2019 Danville Theatre Art Gallery, Affordable Art juried show
- 2019 Arc Gallery, San Francisco, CA, Sanctuary juried gallery and online shows
- 2019 Liberty Arts Gallery, The Shape of Color four person exhibition
- 2019 JenniferPerlmutter@theBank pop-up exhibition, Lafayette CA, New Currencies juried show
- 2018 Liberty Arts Gallery, Women’s Work juried show
- 2018 Jennifer Perlmutter’s Gallery, Lafayette, CA, Small Things juried show
- 2018 Abrams Claghorn Gallery, Albany, CA, Have You Heard Us Yet juried show
- 2016 Siskiyou Art Museum, White on White juried show
- 2010-2019 Berkeley Art Center, CA, Member’s Showcase
- 2015 Liberty Arts Gallery, 12×12 show
- 2015 Liberty Arts Gallery, West Meets East juried show
- 2014 O’Hanlon Gallery, Mill Valley, CA, Water juried show
- 2014 Siskiyou Art Museum, Botanicals juried show
- 2009-2013 Mountain Arts Collective, Mt. Shasta, CA, monthly shows
- 2013 Interfaith Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley CA, juried auction
- 2011 Liberty Arts Gallery, Black & White juried show
- 2010 Siskiyou Arts Council, CA, Portraits juried show
