Jill McLennan: RISING OUT OF RUINS
July 30th, 2021 – September 4th, 2021
Jill McLennan presents new paintings and drawings in a show titled Rising Out of Ruins. McLennan’s interest in ruins originates with her teaching job at a local museum, her love of traveling and her observations of Oakland, the city where she lives, with its constant flux of construction and destruction. For many years her practice has emphasized documenting the abandoned or forgotten: vacant lots, train tracks, empty buildings and construction sites.
In Rising Out of Ruins, McLennan connects ideas about lost cultures with current conditions of development and displacement in American cities, especially Oakland. Ruins hold information about the scope of history and communicate knowledge left behind for us to encounter. Is it our obligation to leave ruins undisturbed, as the offerings for ancestors or gods that they were intended to be? Or Is it our responsibility to unearth these treasures, document and preserve them in museums for all to see and learn about? This new body of work explores how the past lives in the present and looks towards a future where human cultures connect and celebrate differences and creativity.
Available Work
Gallery
Jill McLennan
Jill McLennan creates paintings, collages and prints inspired by her surroundings and the stories that she collects. She has been a member of Mercury 20 Gallery since 2007. She is an active member of her neighborhood, Jingletown Arts, Business + Community (JABC), organizing Open Studios as well as beautification projects. She recently printed a series of linoleum blocks with poems, telling stories of migration and climate change, through a residency at the Kala Art Institute in Berkeley, CA. McLennan has completed two public art projects: Jingletown Birds at 401 Derby and Emeryville Perspectives at 65th and Christie Streets. Both are cut steel fences depicting the local shoreline with birds, designed by McLennan and executed by local metal fabricators. Her work was accepted to the deYoung Open in 2020 and 2023. As an artist and teacher, she is deeply invested in protecting her environment, inspiring the youth, and spreading hope and joy into the world.