Jenna Palmer (BFA '12)

“Screen Print / Mixed Media”

I am interested in applying my education as a fine artist to the world of designing tattoos. Not only do I like the immediacy of expression that tattoos provide, but also I like how they afford a quiet person like me to express myself. Tattoos read visually like words in a diary or journal, marking periods of our lives. I have always had the ability to take my feelings and illustrate them and I would love to be able to do this for others.

This series of work is focused on the idea of fusing traditional tattoo design with fine art, drawing from sources within myself and throughout history. I screen-printed to create the outlines of each piece and then added hand drawn elements. So, even though there is the possibility to screen-print multiples of the outlines, the hand-drawn elements make each piece unique. Each design I created for this exhibition has a story behind it, but for me one of the best things about art is that we all bring our own interpretation to it and create our own stories.