I am interested in what we leave out of our questions and answers. Often, it is that which is not tangible or visible or verifiable. Despite its defiance of our concrete and linear world, encounters with deep mystery often profoundly shape us. Maybe, allow us to consider new ways of living in the world. My work is both in honor of that and an attempt to express it somehow. My process is deliberate, repetitive, and conceived of as a devotional offering. The ritual operations of amassing collections, making multiples or repeated, detailed marks to cover a surface ground me in a meditative state and imbue the work with a quality that inspires contemplation.

The questions in my practice revolve around embodiment, transcendence, and that which is sacred—that which we either can’t really see or don’t have good words for. I am fascinated by the margin and mystery between two and three dimensions, and my work hovers uncannily between them, generating an ephemeral sense of space. Cultivating chance allows my media to dictate a response, so that each piece is a communication between me and my materials, enhancing that liminality. Working with substances based in geology–graphite, porcelain, mineral-based paint–symbolically grounds the work. Ultimately, I want to encourage a new depth of perception or sense of presence for both myself and my viewer.

Jennifer Viviano is from Reno, Nevada, a strange and beautiful place that deeply informed her aesthetic and material choices. She has lived in Oregon now for many more years than she did Nevada and has come to prefer the rain. In addition to her active studio practice, she’s the Managing Director of X Gallery, an art storage vault and private archive. For many years she ran a graphic design studio in Portland where she currently lives with her husband and son. Jennifer holds an MFA in Applied Craft + Design, a joint degree from OCAC/PNCA and a BA from Willamette University.