Jeanna Penn, Freedom, 2019, mixed media collage
Jeanna Penn
Jeanna Penn is a contemporary artist who lives and works between Oakland and Los Angeles, California. She has been creating art for over twenty-five years in various forms including mixed media collage, soft sculpture, photography, zines and documentary film. Much of Jeanna’s work is centered around recontextualizing found imagery and documenting material histories. She received her BA in African American Studies from Morgan State University and continued graduate work in African History at Howard University and Historical Documentary Filmmaking at George Washington University. \
Jeanna also supports other artists’ work by curating art exhibitions, designing and producing public murals, and working as an arts manager. Along with her partner/husband, Stash Maleski, she runs ICU Art, a commercial mural art company. With ICU Art they are able to fulfill their personal mission of creating opportunities for artists so they can support themselves and their families without having to sacrifice their artistic practices.
Jeanna’s work has been shown at the Arts Guild of Sonoma (California); The Art Cave in Santa Cruz (California) ; The Barret Art Center (New York); Eyelevel Centre (Nova Scotia). In 2020 she was published in Create Magazine.