Greenville Cypress Preserve: Evolution of a Painting

When I sent an informal survey asking people about third places, one of the responses was the Greenville Cypress Preserve, a 16-acre ecosystem right in town that has a couple miles of public walking trails.

artist insight, creativity, Mississippi, painting, processJennifer DrinkwaterDecember 28, 2024blogComment

The What's Good Project: Inspire(d)

If you live in the Driftless region of the Midwest, you hopefully know about Inspire(d) Media, a magazine I have been a fan of for years for obvious reasons.

I was real, real excited to be included both as the cover artist for their Summer 2024 issue and in a feature article inside.

artist insight, creativity, community, Iowa, interview, personalJennifer DrinkwaterJune 12, 2024blogComment

Ingrained Care: Evolution of a Painting

I made a short video about the creation of Ingrained Care, a painting inspired a conversation I had in 2019 with Drick Rodgers and Julia Rodgers Clark in Rolling Fork, Mississippi. Watch the painting unfold and read the community story that inspired it.

art collection, artist insight, creativity, interview, Mississippi, processJennifer DrinkwaterApril 29, 2024blogComment

Cultivation: Evolution of a Painting

I made a short video about the early stages of Cultivation, a painting that’s based on a conversation I had in 2019 with Benjamin Saulsberry, Public Engagement and Museum Education Director of the Emmett Till Interpretive Center in Sumner, Mississippi.

art collection, artist insight, community, civil rights, Mississippi, processJennifer DrinkwaterApril 15, 2024blogComment

Skate and Bike Park: Evolution of a Painting

In 2011, Oskaloosa’s Skate and Bike Park broke ground. This urban park sits north of Penn Central Mall and downtown Oskaloosa and was funded by grants from the Tony Hawk Foundation, the MCRF, local donations, and young folks fundraising.

ABCD, art collection, artist insight, community, creativity, Iowa, processJennifer DrinkwaterFebruary 18, 2024blogComment

Creative Placemaking & Cross-Sector Partnerships

Last spring, Arts Midwest invited me to host a really fun conversation with Amber Danielson, Melissa Bond, and Gabriella Torres, three really smart women who do meaningful, creative things in rural communities, for the Arts Midwest Rural Threads podcast and programming series.

ABCD, artist insight, community, creativity, interview, For the Common Good, tips, IowaJennifer DrinkwaterFebruary 11, 2024Comment

Evolution of a Painting, Vol. 2

The gradual evolution of A Beauty We Didn’t Expect, acrylic and tempera on wood panel, 36” x 48”, 2021.

The later stages, the slower the progress. It took me several minutes to detect the differences between images eight and nine. (They’re there, I promise.)

artist insight, creativity, personal, processJennifer DrinkwaterFebruary 4, 2024blog Comment

Murals, Murals Everywhere: A Community Mural Toolkit

I’m happy to report that I am contacted monthly, and increasingly weekly, by someone in Iowa who wants to begin a community mural project. The smallest community to date was a call from McIntire, Iowa (pop 122). The fact that more and more communities are finding value in community art projects fills me with joy.

ABCD, artist insight, community, creativity, tips, toolkitJennifer DrinkwaterJanuary 29, 2024blogComment

The Book Vault: Evolution of a Painting

Get a peek at the inspiration behind and the unfolding of The Book Vault, the first painting of 2024…

art collection, creativity, community, artist insight, painting, process, IowaJennifer DrinkwaterJanuary 21, 2024blog Comments

Questions about Creative Placemaking? You're Not Alone.

It’s a tricky word, placemaking.

Places don’t need to be made. They exist already.

ABCD, artist insight, community, creativity, tips, toolkitJennifer DrinkwaterNovember 19, 2023blog

For the Common Good: A Community Arts Leader Interview with Andy McGuire

This week’s interview continues to capture the creative and community-centered genius that Andy and Allison McGuire discover and harness in the Mahaska County communities through their work at George Daily Community Auditorium.

artist insight, community, For the Common Good, creativity, tips, interviewJennifer DrinkwaterJuly 5, 2023blogComment

For the Common Good: A Community Arts Leader Interview with Allison McGuire

Back in 2017, I had the very good fortune of meeting Allison and Andy McGuire, two talented and community-centered theatre-makers from the George Daily Community Auditorium in Oskaloosa, Iowa (population 11,463). The Auditorium had just been awarded an Arts Build Communities grant from the Iowa Arts Council to create Home Again, a multimedia variety show to explore and share the many stories of the Oskaloosa and Mahaska County communities.

artist insight, ABCD, community, creativity, For the Common Good, tips, interviewJennifer DrinkwaterJune 26, 2023blogComment

Introducing Pop-Up! A Toolkit for [fun, invigorating, life-affirming] Temporary Experiences

I can't wait to share the fourth Community Arts Toolkit with y'all.

Pop-Up! offers an introduction to the nuts and bolts of planning for and pulling off a pop-up experience, be that an exhibition, a one-night event, an out-of-the-box community experience, or anything in between. Ideally, this toolkit will aid you in being thoughtful about every decision you make so you can squeeze the most mileage out of your event.

artist insight, ABCD, creativity, community, toolkit, tipsJennifer DrinkwaterJune 12, 2023blogComment

For the Common Good: A Community Artist Interview with Akwi Nji

I’m so delighted to feature my friend (and one of my favorite artists, period) Akwi Nji in the community artist interview series, For the Common Good, as she truly encapsulates the essence of what this series celebrates. Each participating artist responds to a series of questions about how their personal and community creative practices align. It’s my hope that these interviews provide insights into how and why artists work with communities, both to artists aspiring to do this work, as well as to communities who strive to engage more creatively with their residents.

Evolution of a Painting, Vol. 1

Painting is hard - particularly at the end of the process. Two steps forward, nine steps back. A great deal more time staring at the easel than actively painting.

artist insight, creativity, personal, tips, processJennifer DrinkwaterFebruary 26, 2023blog Comments

POW! A Plan of Work Template for Community Art Projects

We often don’t know what we don’t know, which can be paralyzing when starting something new. This POW will prompt you to have necessary conversations with yourself, your collaborators, and your community, such as: “What are we really trying to do here? Why does it matter? What is our timeline/budget/materials? Who’s doing what by when? How do we know if this has been a successful effort?”

community, artist insight, creativity, toolkit, tipsJennifer DrinkwaterFebruary 13, 2023blogComment

What I Read, Watched, Listened to in 2022

Wait. What day is it? I don't know about you, but this pops into my head everyday rbefore New Year's Eve.

In the spirit of providing you with entertainment options while you too are wondering what day it is, I created a short list of things I enjoyed reading, watching, and listening to in 2022.

artist insight, tipsJennifer DrinkwaterDecember 20, 2022blogComment

The Power of Artist-in-Residence Programs for Artists and Communities

If you’re a civic leader, or part of a community organization, you may consider the benefit of inviting a local artist to be a part of what you’re doing. Or you could invite a non-local artist to live in your community for bit. We creatives thrive on transforming a set of challenges into a new possibility. Our brains are wired to see potential, to see something better.

community, creativity, artist insight, tips, toolkit, AIRJennifer DrinkwaterNovember 12, 2022blog Comments

Road Trip Tips

I heart road trips times infinity. In the summer of ‘98, nineteen-year-old me drove from Mississippi to southwest Virginia. Hopping in a car for a dozen hours has been an impulse ever since. With road trips on my brain, I tapped my online community to see what sage wisdom they had. Gather round, folks.

artist insight, community, personal, tipsJennifer DrinkwaterNovember 9, 2022blogComment

Behind the Scenes: Interviewing Folks for The What's Good Project

A big part of The What’s Good Project involves traveling around to different communities and convincing folks - many of whom have never met or heard of me - to tell me stories about inspiring aspects of where they live.

My mother is a journalist. My father is a trial lawyer. I majored in cultural anthropology. I’m also a Southerner. I come by asking strangers personal questions pretty naturally.

artist insight, community, interview, personalJennifer DrinkwaterOctober 24, 2022blog Comment

THOUGHTS