November 2025: Jenniffer Omaitz

Jenniffer Omaitz ​(b. Cleveland, OH) lives in Kent, OH and works in Kent and Cleveland. She holds an M.F.A. in painting from Kent State University and a B.F.A (2009) in painting from the Cleveland Institute of Art (2002). Solo exhibitions of her work have been held at The Sculpture Center, Cleveland; SPACE Gallery, Denver; and Kent State University, Hinterland, Denver; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland. Her work was also featured at the 2010 Biennial of the Americas in Denver, CAN Triennial in Cleveland 2018, recipient of a 2017 fellowship residency with the Akron Soul Train, a 2019 Ohio Arts Council grantee for an Individual Excellence Award and the 2023 recipient of the Paul and Norma Tikkanen Painting Prize for Abstraction. Omaitz is a part-time faculty member at the College of Architecture and Environmental Design at Kent State University.

---

Artist Statement: My work explores states of change between order and chaos reflecting the visual experience of the constant fluctuations within our urban and geographic environment. Painting and installation art are modes for communicating my sensitivity to environmental factors—these practices provide me with platforms to explore ideas related to climate change and sustainable building. My installations address these issues by constructing abstractions of natural forces frozen in the midst of chaotic events; juxtaposing architecture and nature colliding while simultaneously presenting ideas for rebuilding. Paintings are a meditation on movement, color, permutation, and gesture; boundary coordinates operating between space and color. My paintings explore ideas of Fold, Gesture and Movement. These are approached in two ongoing series: Solid Movement and Folding Gesture. Solid Movement is an investigation into gesture and its ability to encapsulate time and psyche, fuse internal and external, and record conceptual state changes in solidified form. Folding Gesture explores changes in spatial order that appear fractured or fragmented. These states can remain calm or reconfigure coherence in the painting. I am interested in the connection between a fold as it relates to architecture or design and gesture as it relates to aspects of drawing and 20th-century painting. This series struggles to define beauty, exploring abstraction as incident and artifact of the process in which paint is applied, exposing interior and exterior spaces that may not coexist. There is a constant struggle between surface and ground; between paint and the boundaries within the painting. This series of work attempts to unify my sculptural endeavors with my interests in painting. Installations built encompass three-dimensional landscapes frozen amid a chaotic event. This “event” is reminiscent of a landscape that has been caught in a fictitious disaster. By incorporating drawing and painting with objects and found materials, ignites play between the structure of the gallery and the theatrics of the painterly gesture and their united associations. This sense of theater is a formal extension of the shadows cast by gallery lights, the configuration of the wall, and ceiling, and the intrinsic architectural nature of the given space. Overall, my work explores space; both physically and psychologically. This refers to “Space” as it is applied to a two-dimensional surface, or a three-dimensional location.

Tell us a bit about your background. How did you come to embrace the life of a visual artist? Was there a pivotal moment or influence that sparked your journey into art?

I have always been creative and interested in drawing and painting. This goes back to when I was very young around 7/8. However, when I was 15 I was invited to travel alongside the French students to study abroad in France. At 15 I was a devout arts student...so this was a huge change. On this journey I spent 2 weeks traveling around Paris and it opened my eyes to a new world. It was around this time that I knew being in the arts could open doors and allow me experience places that I had only dreamed of. This trip to France allowed me to see that being in the arts was a cultural experience filled with travel, appreciation, and eye opening experiences.

Every artist draws inspiration from somewhere. Can you share a little about the influences, artists, or experiences that have shaped your creative vision? Are there particular themes or stories that resonate with you deeply and appear frequently in your work?

The core of my creative interest sparks from the ideas in that are embedded in Light, Space, and Time. These themes/ideas, are reoccurring in my work based on areas of study I had in my formative years as a young art student (high school) and also in the experiences I had even before art school. In the late 90's I was heavily involved in the underground electronic music scene, aka. Raves. For a brief time I was a laser light operator of parties at local night clubs and even traveled to the eastern part of the US to perform lighting effects in Raves. This experience had a profound impact on my understanding of drawing, light, space and time and also had an impact on my ability to work on long projects through the night. Later in my career I became heavily influenced by deconstructavist architects, painters and installation artists who have a hybrid approach to making art, graphic designers and DJ's. Music continues to influence me in the studio and my continued interest in architecture has led me to teach in Interior Design Architecture at Kent State University.

Walk us through your creative process. How do you approach a new piece, from the moment an idea forms to the final detail? Do you follow a routine, or does each project develop differently?

I have a fast and slow approach to creating work. My installation work is very fast. It begins with collecting items, drawing out potential work in the space, designing the space and then creating the work onsite. Time is essential and so is how I react to the space/place. In my paintings I have two approaches that begin with either a slower approach or faster approach. For the slower approach, a starting place for a painting is when I create paper architecture and then translate it into a digital environment to forcast the breath of a painting in both color and form. The other approach works in reverse. Each stems from a sort of architectonic place that allows me to invent a utopian environment that is structured with color, gesture, and alludes to sound. And each painting is a huge learning experience.

Artistic journeys often come with both challenges and triumphs. Can you share any memorable challenges you’ve encountered in your career, and perhaps a breakthrough moment that shifted your perspective or approach to your work?

When I was in Graduate school I realized that it was easy for me to create installation/assemblage works. There is a stream on consciousness that happens in that type of work that was a huge shift in my overall working process and appreciation for how to make artwork in general. The challenge was it was not sellable or easily transportable. I funded the work through stipends and invites to shows. It was made for everyone and the idea of making work that is more accessible was a shift. I had to let go of commerce or rethink the importance of commerce in art. This was liberating and terrifying.

Your work has a unique style and presence. How would you describe it to someone encountering it for the first time? Are there particular materials, colors, or techniques you find yourself returning to?

I think you have to look at a specific series of work to go into the description process. For example, the Geometric Gesture series: The work in this collection is based on music in DJ culture (4 to the floor) and electronic music that was born in the late 70s to mid-80s. Over the last couple of years my artwork has drifted into this new series —a fusion between invented geometric spaces and gestural movements created with dance and rhythm. I’m interested in movement, space, light, and time as it pertains to the human experience. This work also celebrates unity, diversity, love, and life in the most surreal yet elegant way possible. The music that inspires this type of work is about bringing people together, overcoming differences, finding a voice to communicate, and figuring out where love lives.

As an artist working in today’s rapidly changing world, how do current events, social themes, or new technologies impact your work? Have you felt compelled to address certain issues or explore new media in response?

Yes and no. Painting as a practice has the most beautiful form of escapism to the chaos of the outside world. As a daily practice It grounds me, give me hope, and allows me to embrace subtle shifts in the outside world without being too consumed by things. I am in the process of making new assemblage works that start to address some of the real environmental shifts that are happening.

Are there any other details about your work, or upcoming exhibitions and projects, that you’d like to share with our audience?

I am working on a 30 part series of paintings called "Siteless" based on a book of the same title. In this series, I reinterpret the building forms creating a new fictitious landscape and enhancing the architectonic nature of the form and color. My hope is to continue the iterative process in this series to spark a new type of architectural hybrid. These paintings are all theoretical, but so much fun to create.

Looking ahead, what directions or projects excite you most, and how do you envision your work growing or changing over the next few years?

I would love to travel more and get back into creating installations/assemblages. I would also love to do a series of prints, or limited edition works that allow for a more collectable format. My ability to fund this since printmaking is not my first medium is very difficult so a shout out to anyone who may want to work with me on this project. I also look forward to working with consultants on projects and finding places for my existing work. Overall, I think the paintings will get more complex and continue to explore color. The sculptural work will get more refined and continue to explore the intersection of chance, place, space.