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JENNIFER PARKER

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JENNIFER PARKER
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  • Eight faces gathered under the words The Collective, the green curve of Earth seen from orbit behind them: the scientists and artists of The Algae Society, with botanist Anna Atkins in sepia among the living.

    The Algae Society: Bio Art & Design Lab (2018-2025)

  • A rust-red termite mound rises from dry savanna like a small cathedral of mud, a lone shrub growing from its peak.

    Ripple Logic a small collision in a vast system (2025)

  • In sepia, a lattice of spheres strung on fine rods, small worlds tethered to larger ones, a web with no edge.

    Baryonic Matter vs. Dark Matter (2024)

  • Glass gourds in amber and moss green crowd a table; beside them, a torch flame coaxes a molten golden bulb into being.

    Tranformaciones, arte, ecología y tecnología (2024)

  • A jungle of old botanical engravings brought back to color: a white cactus flower like a star, a coral peony, broad pale leaves, small birds hidden in the green.

    Gaia: The Greek Goddess of the Earth (2024)

  • The Milky Way spills diagonally through the dark. A magnifying frame pulls one patch close, and the stars turn into white-line drawings of diatoms and plankton.

    Habitable Zones: We Live in the Milky Way (2023)

  • A wet tangle on the shore: bubbled kelp, bright green sea lettuce, glossy brown ribbons, and a black microphone lying among them, listening.

    WrackScape (2023)

  • An artist sits on a table, reaching up to draw white seaweed lines across a black wall, the projector's light throwing her shadow tall beside her.

    Sensing the Wrack (2022-23)

  • Seaweeds laid out like specimens in tidy rows on white: crimson fans, yellow ribbons, olive branches, fronds traced in fine ink.

    Wallpaper: 100 Years of Seaweed & Kelp (2022)

  • A kaleidoscope: in a round white dish, eight brown kelp blades turn like a compass rose, ringed by a border of red and cream patterns.

    Algae Digital Kaleidoscope & Tapestry (2022)

  • Pressed seaweeds pinned across a white wall, a deep wine-red cluster at left, smaller pink, purple and olive fronds scattering away like a tide line.

    Pacific Coast Seaweed in Wrack (2022)

  • Animated in black and gold, kelp fronds sway beneath a rippling silver surface.

    Wild Sun Catchers (2022)

  • A small flask with a turquoise cap, half full of green water speckled with living algae, glowing against white.

    Algae in the Studio (2021)

  • A collage of making: a hollow seed pod in an open palm, black 3D-printed shapes, a lemon with its leaves, fallen leaves, dental picks, and an orange-lidded printer.

    Future Past Citrus Gardens & Parks (2020-ongoing)

  • A humpback whale glides past a white floating capsule printed with What Makes Us Human, over a map flushed red, green and cyan.

    What Makes Us Human: An Art & Genomics Convergence (2020-21)

  • In a glass dish on black, a golden tuft of seaweed opens like a feather duster, or a small dry flame.

    California Seaweed & Kelp: portraits in the round (2022)

  • Three relatives in one frame: a plush woolly mammoth, a potted green plant, and a cream-colored primate skull, grinning.

    Intersecting Data Fields: An Art & Genomics Collaboration (2019)

  • One teardrop-shaped shell repeated eight times: twice in gray microscope detail, its pores like lace, then dreamed again in moss green, gold, teal and a burst of color.

    Bloom or Bust (2019)

  • A black chalk wall calls out in white letters, Draw Algae! Framed seaweed prints hang beside a chalk shark as someone adds a sketch.

    Phytoplankton (Chalk) Wall 2018

  • A watercolor coccolithophore: a tiny green sphere armored in overlapping wheel-shaped plates, each one finely ribbed.

    Painting with Algae (2018)

  • Two women lean over a table of small wooden boxes in a maker booth strung with wires, lights and branches.

    Oceanic Scales: Art & Science Community Platform (2014-17)

  • Rows of listeners fill a tall atrium hung with paper lanterns, all turned toward an image of Earth on a screen.

    Blue Trail: Imagination + Innovation for Ocean Sustainability (2012-14)

  • A glass globe of water holds pale roots, crowned with bright chartreuse leaves, hanging against violet light.

    BioSensing Garden (2013)

  • Behind clear acrylic, a small motor, red tubing and a green circuit board wait to make sound.

    sonicPLACE: Sound Wave Festival ((5)) 2012, Intersection for the Arts in San Francisco, CA

  • A man in a dark coat holds a fan of taut yellow-green strings that slice diagonally across the frame, speakers resting at his feet.

    sonicSENSE:TRANSMUTATIONS  (2011-12)

  • Underwater, in deep blue: a pipe's open mouth, scattered shards, and a dark microphone listening, the water glittering with particles.

    sonicSENSE: sonicPOND (2011)

  • Two visitors stand inside a tunnel of crumpled mirror, their reflections broken and multiplied around them.

    sonicSENSE: hydroSonic (2010)

  • A woman stands with a hand on her hip in a white gallery, studying a wall of metal rods and a coiled loop.

    sonicSENSE + phaseSpace (2010)

  • At dusk, a crowd lays hands on glowing green pads around a tank of cyan light, faces lit with curiosity.

    sonicSENSE: ZERO1 (2010)

  • Crumpled silver panels hang like folded wings in a gallery corner, while a screen nearby shows a streak of green-white light.

    SonicSENSE:SolarSonic v2.0 (2012),

  • In a red-black dark, a face surfaces in patches of light, pixels breaking apart around her smile.

    sonicSENSE: blowTANK (2010)

  • Thousands of fine lines in gold, orange and green sweep across black: the solar wind drawn as a comet's hair.

    SonicSENSE: SolarSonic (2010)

  • A quilt of faces: dozens of OpenLab collaborators, smiling, serious, outdoors and in, stitched together with a UC Santa Cruz tag.

    OpenLab Collaborative Research Center (2010-Present)

  • A wall of stacked plastic water jugs glows a cool blue, a single black cable taped to one.

    sonicSENSE: hydroConversion (2009)

  • A blue Earth is projected on a dark wall behind upright pipes, small objects dangling in front like wind chimes.

    SonicSENSE: Art of Collaboration (2009)

  • Four frames of a hand pressing a bronze bone, a red wire trailing from it: the bone has become a switch.

    sonicSENSE: Czech Republic (2008-09)

  • The word sonicSENSE in bold white letters on a red field.

    sonicSENSE (2008-2012)

  • A black marker inks a grid of lines across fingers and palm, mapping the hand like farmland.

    PalmLines (2007)

  • Two performers in white face paint pose on a city plaza: one in a black and white kimono flicking open a red fan, one in a shaggy costume of fur and feathers.

    DRAWING COMPLAINT: Memoirs of Björk-Geisha (2006)

  • In black and white, two figures tumble headfirst through the sky across a giant pink rose, birds lined up on the wires above.

    Lost Industry (2006)

  • A cast head repeated twelve times, its mouth stretching through gasps, grins and cries, sometimes stuffed with something pale.

    Post Election Blues (2004)

  • Two crossed forearms cast in dark red translucent rubber, hands gripping elbows, edges torn and frayed like shed skin.

    Lost Limbs/Foreign Bodies (2005-07)

  • Stacks of translucent green plastic crates, their arched lattice repeating into a glowing wall.

    The Plasticocene (2004-24)

  • In a hall of tall leaded windows and heraldic glass, a figure in a white robe sits in an armchair on a blue carpet stage while another, in green, crouches to work beside them.

    STREET ROYALTY (2003)

  • Underwater in turquoise light, a woman in a white gauzy dress is wrapped in coils of white rope, her eyes closed.

    Linking Equilibrium (2003)

  • A body in a black sweater cradles a pale green cabbage against the chest, the head out of frame.

    Chair for Cabbage (2003)

  • A long orange crocheted cord snakes across a dark gallery floor to a slumped orange sack, a pale figure leaning in the far corner.

    Skinned [Sound Residue] 2003

  • On a warm-lit wooden stage, one performer lies stretched along the floor, reaching; another folds over a small chair, cabbages scattered nearby.

    Exit to the Interior (2002)

  • Pale pods of stretched skin on dark wire ribs rest on a glossy floor, like seed husks or unlit lanterns in green light.

    White Pods (2002)

  • In near darkness, a figure stands inside a giant transparent mesh sphere, arms spread as if testing its walls.

    Without Borders (2001)

  • A video still: men in suits and loose shirts walk through a crowded night market, signs glowing overhead.

    TransLocate (2001)

  • Pale wooden discs overlap close up, like scales or spilled coins.

    Sudden Oak Death, Dog Mauling (2001)

  • A woman wearing a suit of curling wigs holds out a long wooden ladle in a crowded exhibition hall.

    Wig Suit (2000)

  • A heap of potatoes, sprouts pushing from their eyes, piled against a green wall.

    Lake of Cool Fin (1999)

  • A woolly ewe and her lamb stand on a grassy hill; beside them, a woman in a monkey mask, red top and green dress reaches up for red apples.

    Eve was Still a Monkey (1998)

  • Oranges rise on thin steel stems against a white wall, a field of strange flowers.

    Citrus Sinensis (1996)

  • One feathered body, two dark heads: a pale duck sculpture that splits at the neck into twins.

    Fictitious Objects (1995-7)

  • A pile of bleached bones on table in the middle of a room with two large windows and a video monitor

    Why You Sleep (1994)

  • Ferns and speckled light blur into a dream of blue, pink and green, as if seen through closing eyes.

    Cohabitating Secretly (1994)

  • Bare feet slipped into long pointed shoes of frosted glass, resting on mossy green boards.

    Bound by Her Benevolent Behavior (1994)

  • A small mound of white sugar balls glistening on a dark surface.

    Sugar Spit Balls (1992)

  • Three silver cassette recorders in a row on a worn wooden tabletop.

    Horse Table (1992)

  • A frill of sheer pink and white lace skirts a padded white form that stands on a dark curved leg.

    Grandma Loved Peety (1992)

  • A wooden panel pierced by a single round hole, bare hairy legs standing below it.

    Three Lullabies (1992)

  • A person in a white tank top, head wrapped in strips of white bread, lit warmly against black.

    White Bread (1992/2006)

  • A young woman in paint-spattered overalls stands inside a tall wire snowman of stacked rings, holding a pole.

    Snowman (1991)

  • Carved wooden binoculars on a stand, solid and blind, aimed at a blank wall.

    Distancing of a Natural Act (1991)

  • In sepia, a hand opens toward the camera, fingers pressed together.

    pluck out pull release (1990)

  • A yellow wooden case with its glass lids opened, every compartment full of moth wings and insect bodies.

    Collecting insects in the studio (1990)

  • Bundles of grass and straw laid in a woven grid, gold shading into green.

    Welcome Mat (1990)

  • A small yellow bench waits in tall grass, facing a post topped with a red-lined trough.

    Candy Lick (1990) Skowhegan, Maine

  • A gallery wall of three framed panels of grain; below, a wire cage holds a hen, and beside it a black sphere, a pan and a cloth cone hang one above another.

    Process of Digestion (1990)

  • Two glass jars glow with bulbs inside, milky liquid settled at their bottoms, on a dark wooden post.

    Making Cheese or Rotten Milk? (1990)

  • Brown eggs nestled in a wooden grid of compartments, warm light on their shells.

    Waiting Room (1990)

  • In a wooden room carpeted with grass, two bark-wrapped vessels brimming with white sit beneath hanging bulbs.

    As an Enfant I did not Suck (1989)

  • A wooden yoke balanced on a pole carries two long white cloth sacks, one hanging from each end.

    Corn Carriers (1989)

  • Two milk jugs crowned with metal funnels flank a hanging bag of seeds.

    Sewing Seeds | Two Teats: 10 Gallon Capacity (1989)

  • A huge dark rounded form fills a gallery in silhouette, a tube curling from its base and a single bulb hanging nearby.

    Pea Factory a.k.a. Mrs. Pea (1989)

© Copyright 2026. All Rights Reserved Jennifer Parker

Jennifer Parker is an interdisciplinary artist, researcher, and Professor of Art at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and Founding Director of OpenLab Collaborative Research Center.