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Have good days forever

With a wide bright smile, Creativity Explored artist Valerie Jenkins croons, “Have good days forever.” Karma, good juju, and similar well wishes are often disingenuously thrown about in conversation, but Valerie’s sentiments exude sincerity, compassion, and genuine kindness and caring for others. “I want you to be happy, because I love you,” Valerie told me as we sat down to talk about her art making, effusive positivity, and the animals that surround us.

The lyrical quality of Valerie’s speech is well known, and her flowing, optimistic words immediately set the tone for a comfortable and lovely conversation. She shared with me a recently completed artwork. Delicately rendered in pen and colored pencil on wood, are multiple penguins arranged in two rows. Valerie lists the name of each penguin beneath its figure. Jerry, Lucy, Sanbra, and Kim are repeated several times. At the bottom of the piece lie stacks of eggs hatched by the penguins.

As with all art, multiple readings can impart greater knowledge and understanding of the piece and the artists’ intent. About this particular work, Valerie shared that each penguin had different personality traits, despite looking alike and sharing identical names.  Perhaps this represents the multiplicity of identities one may occupy, or comments on the interconnectedness between humans and animals. Whichever reading one may feel is the most accurate for this particular artwork, Valerie’s piece is reflective of her personality, curiosities, and the various thematic concerns she communicates through her art. 

We talked about wildlife and our spirit animals (Valerie assuredly claims the lion as her own), and then moved on to evolution and the state of human race (“Do monkeys eat meat?”). I kept thinking back to the unconventional family structure of the penguins in Valerie's artwork and their contrast with larger societal structures that are not as inclusive. Valerie’s lovingness, gentleness, and inquisitiveness are expressed in her personality and artwork. She encourages us to find the extraordinary in the everyday, and to recognize not only the differences, but to see the shared relationships between “us” and “them.” 

Animals and Elephants by Valerie Jenkins © 2006 Creativity Explored

Click here to see a short video of Valerie working in the studio.

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Submitted by Alex Fine, Oberlin College intern.