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Jann Nunn visual artist


My work in sculpture, installation, and performance gets to the heartbeat of the issue, place, or space at hand. My research leading up to a site-related, site-specific, situation-responsive project involves an investigation of history, story, psychology, and/or physiology behind the project. I leave no stone unturned. I seek to convey significance through symbolism that communicates my ideas with authenticity and relevance.

My content driven work engenders both conceptual and poetic sensibilities. I want the work to be beautiful; that kind of draw-you-in beauty that lingers long enough until the ideas fall into formation in the viewer’s conscious mind. Not unlike words in a poem, material selection, presentation considerations, and scale play off of each other to become something greater than the sum of their often-unrelated parts. I typically combine unanticipated materials meant to evoke multifarious meanings. Disparate materials such as steel with glass or fabric may be used in a single work to accentuate duality or tension. I’m not afraid to tackle themes in my work that range from intimately personal to overtly political.

While my work usually embodies a physical presence, and the craft is considered and often laborious, it is the ideas that are paramount. In addition to my studio work, I have created large-scale outdoor works in public places for Burning Man 2001; Portland Clifftop Sculpture Park in the UK; SKYART Festival in Anchorage, Alaska; and the Sonoma Community Center in Sonoma, California. In 2009 I completed the Erna and Arthur Salm Holocaust and Genocide Memorial sculpture on the grounds of Sonoma State University in Rohnert Park, California where I am a professor of sculpture.

I have exhibited my work, lectured and held residencies nationally and internationally since 1987. I received a BFA degree from University of Alaska Anchorage in 1988, attended Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, and earned an MFA from San Francisco Art Institute in 1992.

Jann Nunn
Oakland, CA
2015

Artist Statement