JENNA ALBRIGHT
"When did you know you were going to be an artist?"
That's the first question I'm asked when someone finds out I "color." This is followed by: "I don't know how you do it. I can't even draw a straight line."
Personally, I don't know anyone who CAN draw a straight line. But back to that first question…
In my earliest art memory, I’m 6 and headed off to first grade with the smock my mother sewed for me for art class. It was red with white polka dots, two pockets and mismatched buttons. I'm pretty sure I was the only one with an art smock. I was also the only one up out of my seat, walking around the large table of coloring 6-year-olds, showing them what they were doing wrong and correcting them. I'm cringing just thinking about it. I recall, on more than one occasion, being made to stay after school for not keeping my smocked self in my seat. Hey, I was a free spirit. I needed to move about my people.
Fast forward to 1970, fifth-grade. I won best portrait of my teacher, Ms. McMillan. She sat for us one hour every day for a week. The entire school was doing this, and the two best from each class got to hang in the cafeteria. The portraits, not the students.
I was accepted into The Greenville Fine Arts Center in my sophomore year of high school, along with five of my classmates. We spent two hours a day at the center, where we received a more intense study of art than we would have received at our school. Plus, we got to drive off campus, which allowed for impromptu IHOP drive-bys.
I graduated from The College of Charleston in 1982 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in painting. Nine months later, at the age of 23, I landed a job with Georgia Outdoor Advertising in Athens, Georgia, as a billboard painter and graphic designer. For the next 15 years, I painted billboards, developing my love for painting chrome, sweat droplets and realism. In 1998, Georgia Outdoor was purchased by Lamar Outdoor Advertising, ushering in many changes to the outdoor industry. Technology was changing the way billboards were being produced. Hand-painted billboards became a thing of the past, as the industry shifted to the quicker, cheaper process of printing on vinyl. So I moved into designing the billboards full-time.
I was no longer spending eight hours a day painting on a large scale – but I missed it, so I began to paint on my off hours. I started getting pet portrait commissions and I really enjoyed those. I still do. But I missed something. What was it? Oh yeah, CHROME. I've always had a love for classic cars and on a trip to Taos, New Mexico, in 2006, I took a lot of photos of old, rusty vehicles. I love photographing objects, closing in on the subject until I find a composition that works well with the dimensions of my canvas. Although my works are photo-realistic, I have chosen a closer view to force a sense of abstraction without losing the identity of the subject matter. I have no doubt painting billboards for 15 years really developed my painting style today.
Jenna lives with her wife, Leita, a professional freelance photojournalist, and their five cats (yikes!) in the greater Atlanta area. Jenna is creative director at Lamar Outdoor Advertising, where she has worked for 33 years. When she's not working or painting, she's volunteering for Girls Rock Camp ATL, helping to empower young girls through music. Each year she participates as a camper in Ladies Rock Camp ATL, which is a fundraiser for Girls Rock Camp ATL. Jenna also shaves her head every other year to raise money for the St. Baldrick's Foundation, which funds research on finding cures for pediatric cancers.
