Welcome back to ARTMATTERS: The Podcast for Artists. Today i speak with the LA-based artist Jen Hitchings. Jen’s work investigates the tenuous relationship between humankind and nature and in recent years she has embarked on a deeply self-reflective investigation of the psyche, relationships, erotic desire, and cosmic forces. Her influences range from the rural Japanese landscape, the Hudson River School painters, science fiction film posters, spiritualist archetypes, and contemporary surrealist painting.On today's episode: Jen and I discuss vertical vs horizontal compositions, deadlines, negotiation skills, her upcoming 21 ft-mural commission for Mailchimp, starting a painting, building a painting  and potential new directions in her painting practice. and a whole lot more. About Jen Hitchings:Jen Hitchings (1988, New Jersey) received her BFA in Painting & Drawing from SUNY Purchase College in 2011 and a certificate in Small Business & Entrepreneurship from CUNY Hunter College in 2018. She has attended residencies at Adventure Painting (Yellowstone National Park), DNA (Provincetown, MA), the Vermont Studio Center (Johnson, VT), and Studio Kura (Itoshima, Japan). Solo presentations of her work have taken place at Anat Ebgi (Los Angeles, CA) in 2023, Taymour Grahne (London, UK) in 2023 and online in 2022, One River School (Englewood, NJ) in 2019, MEN Gallery (New York, NY) and PROTO (Hoboken, NJ) in 2018, and Ideal Glass (New York, NY) in 2017 which was accompanied by a 16 x 30’ outdoor mural. In 2021, she completed two large-scale outdoor murals at The Wassaic Project, on view through 2023. In 2023, she was commissioned by Mailchimp to produce a 9 x 21’ indoor permanent office mural at their new headquarters in Atlanta, GA. Recent group exhibitions have taken place at Richard Heller, Anat Ebgi, Good Mother (Los Angeles), Kutlesa (Goldau, Switzerland), Chen Projects at Louisa Art Center (Taipei, Taiwan), Taymour Grahne (London, UK), Ana Mas Projects (Barcelona, Spain), Gaa Gallery, Cindy Rucker, Pierogi (New York, NY), and The Wassaic Project (Wassaic, NY) among others. She was a recipient of the Queens Council on the Arts’ New Works Grant in 2018. Between 2013–2020, Hitchings co-directed Transmitter and Associated Gallery in Brooklyn, NY, is the founder of artist-focused consulting agency Studio Associate, and Director of Career Services at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). She lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.You can now support this podcast by clicking HERE where you can donate using PATREON or PayPal!If you're enjoying the podcast so far, please rate, review, subscribe and SHARE ON INSTAGRAM! If you have an any questions you want answered, write in to artmatterspodcast@gmail.com host: Isaac Mann www.isaacmann.cominsta: @isaac.mann guest: Jen Hitchings www.jenhitchings.com insta: @jenjonesjones