Jenipher Chandley
The undertone of her work is rooted in the story of love. The journey to find it, revel in it, cherish it, lose it and find it again are all deeply seated. Nature, energy, and the connection between them are injected into her view of the human condition. Her emotionally charged realism is infused with symbolism and poetic gestures.
Jenipher brings her emotions
(and the entirety of her subconscious) to her art.
Jenipher Chandley is a recipient of a 2023 Creative Pinellas Emerging Artist grant. If you aren’t familiar, the grant may be deceiving. Instead of someone at the beginning of their career, these grants actually are for artists who are on the upward trends of their career. It supports and showcases artists who have already exhibited and worked to create a thriving artist practice. This young, vibrant, mother of four has done exactly that. She has taken a life full of obstacles and formed a vital art practice and gathered a supportive community around her, giving voice to others as well as herself.
Born and raised in St. Petersburg, Chandley comes across as both vulnerable and strong and these traits are reflected in her artwork. Incorporating symbolism and poetic gestures, peach complexioned girls dream of summer and dark-haired beauties float in rose hip waters. All confident in their inner power.
She has been making art her whole life, but her imprint on the history of the creative community here really started in 2011, over eleven years ago. Coming out of a history of economic struggle and domestic abuse, she gathered like-minded passionate artists around her and started painting in front of what was the Sake Bomb on Central Avenue in downtown St Petersburg. Encouraged by then owner Tai Swank, she took those humble beginnings of home-made flyers and neighboring dive bars and formed it into an ongoing artist meet-up and exhibition space that continues to this day, morphing as it changed owners and turned into Bar@548. The current owner, Michael Kellem, has also been supportive and encourages this endeavor.
Chandley describes herself not as a victim, but a survivor. She knows from personal experience that hard work and dedication can overcome obstacles and she endeavors to instill this mentality in others. For the last many years, she has been curating installations of art on the walls of Bar@548, helping other local artists to be seen and sell their work. Her work resonates with so many people she is able to sell her work right off the walls of a bar and inspire others to do the same.
She describes her process as incorporating, “…the desire to heal, to be happy and to find inner peace, the common thread in all humanity.”
In addition to an Emerging Artist Grant and the exhibition opportunity that affords, an exhibition of her work is also featured in the lobby at American Stage Theater running simultaneously with the play Crimes of the Heart through February 5th, as well as an upcoming exhibition at The Fairgrounds.
When asked about her advice for emerging artists, Chandley responded with the wish for all artists to not be afraid to grow out of their comfort zone, while reflecting that transitions are natural and needed. With the new tasks included in her Emerging Artist grant such as keeping a blog, having an artist mentor, and creating a new body of work for an exhibition, she is clearly following her own advice.
Click here: Jenipher’s Website
