Jill McLennan – Ancestral Pathways
October 10 – November 15, 2025
- Oakland Style Week Tour: Saturday, October 11, 11:30- 12
- Artists’ Reception: Saturday, October 18, 3 – 5 pm
- Oakland Art Murmur / First Friday: Friday, November 7, 5 – 9 pm
- Artists’ Talk: Saturday, November 15, 2 – 3:30 pm
Jill McLennan’s prints and poems depict humans and animals moving along ancestral pathways of migration. McLennan created this series while working as an Artist in Residence at Kala Art Institute in Berkeley. She printed her linoleum block images with haiku poems using the letterpress technique and a Vanderhoop Press. The series began with the story of a man who had escaped from Yemen to Africa on a rowboat with a cow. Inspired by her friend, Collin, and his song, Every Step you Take is a Migration, she began to seek out other migration stories. She discovered animal migrations that have been altered by humans due to habitat destruction, such as giraffes being transported by truck. She read stories of the people risking their lives to travel across borders seeking new homes. When the Klamath river dams were taken down and salmon began to swim up the river again, she carved the story of the Salmon People. “I am processing the shadows we have cast on our beloved natural world and sharing the stories of those who wander searching for light.”
Jill McLennan
is a painter, printmaker and teaching artist who has been living in Oakland, CA for 23 years. She is an active member of her neighborhood Jingletown, creating and organizing public art and beautification projects, and has her studio at Jingletown Art Studios. In 2023, she completed a large-scale public art project with the city of Emeryville, a steel fence depicting local views and shorebirds. Currently, she is focused on printmaking and is exploring several techniques and subjects. This fall, she is an artist in residence at Kala Art Institute in Berkeley. As both an artist and a teacher, she is deeply invested in learning new things, exploring her environment, inspiring youth, and spreading hope and joy into the world.