Jen Ervin (b.1971) is an American artist and photographer. Her recent work, The Arc, bridges unique polaroid prints, measured in seasons and repetition, with experimental films to create a rhythmic exploration of place. It was born out of time spent with her family near their historic cabin set deep in the woods of South Carolina, and continued over a period from, 2012-2019.
’Ark Lodge, our cabin of refuge, is a place where time stands still. While the cabin itself was built over 80 years ago by our ancestors, it rests between two black rivers in a secluded landscape that has managed to escape modernization for centuries. Whenever we arrive, we instantly slow down, breathe deeper and become enveloped into its hauntingly beautiful presence. This is especially so on long summer days when it is unbearably hot, humid and buggy. Somehow we have all learned to quiet our minds and move only in small increments to maintain as much coolness, as we can. These slow actions deepen our awareness of our surroundings. We automatically lose our sense of time, and it can sometimes feel as if we are floating in and out of dream world. From dawn to dusk, we live in these nearby waters. Here—time is elastic, slow moving’.
With their imperfections and changeability, Ervin’s polaroids describe a tactile and ethereal vulnerability relatable to the human condition while simultaneously mapping the evolution of memory. Ervin’s films offer an extension of the experience to the viewer, drawing in on universal archetypes and a sense of timelessness. Ervin states:
’The endurance of my project was fueled by polaroid’s ability to evoke chance encounters with imperfection and describe a vulnerability relatable to both the human condition and the transformation of memory over time. It was initially inspired by a mysterious, fragmented collection of vintage family photographs left at Ark Lodge by our ancestors over several generations. The stories behind these photographs remain untold and led me to we weave our present into our past to create our own mythology. Over time the collection grew to include conceptual films that draw on archetypes and sensations of timelessness. Presented together in an aesthetic narrative, they work to transcend the personal to the universal, demonstrating how one person’s private world has the capacity to reveal the collective experience, particularly through the ephemeral world of childhood.’
Ervin lives and works in Charleston, South Carolina. Her work is actively shown in galleries and museums, both in solo and group shows. Recent Exhibitions include: Self-Processing and Currents 2017 at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, Along the River at the Florence Museum’s Waters Gallery, Instant Gratification at the The Redux Contemporary Art Center, Summer Splash at Boston’s Panoptican Gallery, and Small Works at The Center for Fine Art Photography. Ervin was a Critical Mass Finalist in 2016 and a Critical Mass Top 50 Finalist in 2018. Since the onset of her project, ‘The Arc’, her work has been featured in numerous international publications including: Time Lightbox, , Feature Shoot , Phases Magazine, aPhotoEditor, Lenscratch, Fotopolis , Grain de Photographe, and Don’t Take Pictures . Her first book, The Arc was published by Aint–Bad in March 2019. Subsequently, Ervin made her curatorial debut with a two-part photography exhibition, The Arc | Illumination, Ritual, Reflection at the Redux Contemporary Art Center, featuring the provocative work of nine contemporary artists. Through a variety of photographic processes and approaches, this exhibition aimed to demonstrate how creativity can illuminate the relationship between ourselves and the ever-shifting landscape (societal, ecological, psychic) through rituals and reflections.
EDUCATION
MFA, Graphic Design, Boston University, 2002
BA, Visual Arts, Concentration in Painting, Francis Marion University, 1995
RECENT GROUP & SOLO EXHIBITIONS (partial)
Jen Ervin: The Arc Redux Contemporary Art Center, Charleston SC, April 5- May 12, 2019 solo
Illumination, Ritual and Reflection curated by Jen Ervin, Redux Contemporary Art Center, April 5- May 12, 2019
Instant Gratification: Traveling Polaroid Exhibit Curated by Aint Bad, REDUX Contemporary Art Center, February – March, 2018, Atlanta School of Art, October 1-31, 2017
Currents 2017 New Orleans Photo Alliance Showcase, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, Dec 7 – Feb 4, 2017
Small Works The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO, November 2017
Pictures Without Words, Volume 001 Issue 002 Strant Magazine, Editor Shaun H. Kelly, March 8, 2017
Water The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO, October 7 – 29, 2016
Jen Ervin: Along the River Florence County Museum, Water’s Gallery, Florence SC, April 4 – June 10, 2016, solo
Family Ties: South Carolina Women Photographers on Family McKissick Museum, Columbia SC, January 4 – April 2, 2016
The Arc of Summer Slow Exposures, Pop-Up Exhibit , Georgia, September 17-20, 2015
FOTOFILMIC ‘14 dnj Gallery, Los Angeles – New York, 2015
FOTOFILMIC’14 2nd Global Juried Film Photography Traveling Exhibit, Oct 2014 – Jan 2015
Somewhere in the South: Christenberry, E. Dudik, Eggleston, Jen Ervin, Walker Pickering, Kathleen Robbins, Susan Worsham, Rebekah Jacob Gallery, Mar- Apr 15, 2014
Self-Processing – Instant Photography Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, Oct 2014 – Jan 2015
Jen Ervin: Land & Family Charleston Center for Photography, Downtown Charleston, SC, 2013, solo
Reorientation 5 Redux Contemporary Art Center, Charleston, SC, 2012
Inaugural Redux Studio Artist Exhibition North Charleston City Gallery, SC, 2012
Becoming, Francis Marion University Art Gallery, SC, Jan-Feb 2011, solo
Contextual Intimacy in Design Boston University Art Gallery, MA, 2002
PUBLICATIONS
Booooooom, Jen Ervin: The Arc of Summer , by Anna Scheider, Dec 2019
Feature Shoot, Enchanting Photos From A Cabin In the Woods , by Ellyn Kail, Nov 7, 2019
Don’t Take Pictures, Rule Breakers: Jen Ervin by Dana Stirling, Oct 21, 2019
Float Photo Magazine, Book Review: Jen Ervin: The Arc by Marissa Iamartino, Aug 10, 2019
Pictura Gallery, Curious Photo Blog, Jen Ervin, The Arc , by Mia Diaglish, May 14, 2018
PRYME Editions, Artist Jen Ervin: The Arc of Summer by Anne Silver, Mar 2, 2018
Mother F Stop, Jen Ervin Polaroids, by Steffanie Halley, Feb 28, 2018
Lenscratch, Jen Ervin: The States Project: South Carolina , July 22, 2017
Fotopolis (Poland), Ark Lodge: Where Time Stands Still by Julia Kaczorowska, November 2016
Phases Magazine, Selected Works: Jen Ervin, France, October 9, 2016
Feature Shoot, Growing Up in the Magical Woods of South Carolina , by Ellyn Kail, September 20, 2016
Graine de Photographe, Jen Ervin photographie l’enfance au fil des saisons avec ses Polaroïds ”, by Aude Pros, France, September 2016
TIME Lightbox, Dreamy Snapshots of Family Life in the South , by Tara Johnson & Cassidy Paul, August 16, 2016
Femme Fotale Volume III – Analog, Summer 2016
Streit House Space, This Is It!, February 2016
Florence Morning News, Photographer Finds Inspiration in Nature, Family by Deborah Swearingen, (hometown press), 2016
Aint–Bad, Jen Ervin: Polaroids, October 2015
Don’t Take Pictures Magazine, Summer’s Ark: The Photography of Jen Ervin, by Inga Shun, Issue 5 , Fall 2015
aPhotoEditor, Work From PhotoNOLA, Part 2, by Jonathan Blaustein, Jan. 9, 2015
Pelican Bomb, ”Immediate Gratification: ‘Self Processing’, by Taylor Murrow , Dec 23, 2014
INTERVIEWS
Jen Ervin: Story by Storyteller , InFrame, Dec 2019
Aint–Bad Magazine , In Conversation: Jen Ervin & Kyra Schmidt, Oct 2019
Underexposed Magazine, with Davida Carta, July 29, 2017
This On That, with Matt Dunne, Australia, April 24, 2017
Light Leaked, with Ashley Kauschinger, September 2016
Streit House Space, February 23, 2016
Mull It Over, with Jonathan Cherry, August 12, 2015
Southern Glossary, with Ryan Sparks, August 12, 2015
Strant Magazine, with Shaun Kelly, March 18, 2015
AWARDS & HONORS
Critical Mass Finalist, Top 50, Photolucida, 2018
Honorable Mention, Small Works, Juried Group Show, The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO, October 7 – 29, 2016
Critical Mass Finalist, Top 200, Photolucida, 2016
Honorable Mention, Water, Juried Group Show, The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO, October 7 – 29, 2016
Artist Stipend, Charleston Supported Art, Charleston, SC, 2014
ARTIST LECTURES & TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Artist Gallery Talk, Camera Works Cafe, May 2019
Curator Talk, The Arc | Illumination, Ritual, Reflection, Redux Contemporary Art Center, April 2019
Artist Lecture, Along the River, Florence County Museum, SC May 11, 2016
Panel Discussion: Somewhere in the South, Rebekah Jacob Gallery, Charleston, SC, March, 2014
Artist Lecture, Second Monday Series, Charleston Center for Photography, Charleston, SC, June, 2013
Artist Lecture, Reorientation 5, Redux Contemporary Art Center, Charleston, SC
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Independent Curator, Redux Contemporary Art Center, Charleston, SC, 2019
Freelance Graphic Designer, Charleston, SC, 2018
Studio Artist, Redux Contemporary Art Center, Charleston, SC, 2011-2013
Writer, Redux Contemporary Art Center Charleston, SC, 2011 – 2013
Freelance Portrait Photographer, Charleston, SC 2004 - 2010
Freelance Graphic Designer, Boston, MA and Charleston, SC, 2002 – 2004
Visual Arts Librarian, Boston University School of Visual Arts, 1998 – 2002
’Ark Lodge, our cabin of refuge, is a place where time stands still. While the cabin itself was built over 80 years ago by our ancestors, it rests between two black rivers in a secluded landscape that has managed to escape modernization for centuries. Whenever we arrive, we instantly slow down, breathe deeper and become enveloped into its hauntingly beautiful presence. This is especially so on long summer days when it is unbearably hot, humid and buggy. Somehow we have all learned to quiet our minds and move only in small increments to maintain as much coolness, as we can. These slow actions deepen our awareness of our surroundings. We automatically lose our sense of time, and it can sometimes feel as if we are floating in and out of dream world. From dawn to dusk, we live in these nearby waters. Here—time is elastic, slow moving’.
With their imperfections and changeability, Ervin’s polaroids describe a tactile and ethereal vulnerability relatable to the human condition while simultaneously mapping the evolution of memory. Ervin’s films offer an extension of the experience to the viewer, drawing in on universal archetypes and a sense of timelessness. Ervin states:
’The endurance of my project was fueled by polaroid’s ability to evoke chance encounters with imperfection and describe a vulnerability relatable to both the human condition and the transformation of memory over time. It was initially inspired by a mysterious, fragmented collection of vintage family photographs left at Ark Lodge by our ancestors over several generations. The stories behind these photographs remain untold and led me to we weave our present into our past to create our own mythology. Over time the collection grew to include conceptual films that draw on archetypes and sensations of timelessness. Presented together in an aesthetic narrative, they work to transcend the personal to the universal, demonstrating how one person’s private world has the capacity to reveal the collective experience, particularly through the ephemeral world of childhood.’
Ervin lives and works in Charleston, South Carolina. Her work is actively shown in galleries and museums, both in solo and group shows. Recent Exhibitions include: Self-Processing and Currents 2017 at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, Along the River at the Florence Museum’s Waters Gallery, Instant Gratification at the The Redux Contemporary Art Center, Summer Splash at Boston’s Panoptican Gallery, and Small Works at The Center for Fine Art Photography. Ervin was a Critical Mass Finalist in 2016 and a Critical Mass Top 50 Finalist in 2018. Since the onset of her project, ‘The Arc’, her work has been featured in numerous international publications including: Time Lightbox, , Feature Shoot , Phases Magazine, aPhotoEditor, Lenscratch, Fotopolis , Grain de Photographe, and Don’t Take Pictures . Her first book, The Arc was published by Aint–Bad in March 2019. Subsequently, Ervin made her curatorial debut with a two-part photography exhibition, The Arc | Illumination, Ritual, Reflection at the Redux Contemporary Art Center, featuring the provocative work of nine contemporary artists. Through a variety of photographic processes and approaches, this exhibition aimed to demonstrate how creativity can illuminate the relationship between ourselves and the ever-shifting landscape (societal, ecological, psychic) through rituals and reflections.
EDUCATION
MFA, Graphic Design, Boston University, 2002
BA, Visual Arts, Concentration in Painting, Francis Marion University, 1995
RECENT GROUP & SOLO EXHIBITIONS (partial)
Jen Ervin: The Arc Redux Contemporary Art Center, Charleston SC, April 5- May 12, 2019 solo
Illumination, Ritual and Reflection curated by Jen Ervin, Redux Contemporary Art Center, April 5- May 12, 2019
Instant Gratification: Traveling Polaroid Exhibit Curated by Aint Bad, REDUX Contemporary Art Center, February – March, 2018, Atlanta School of Art, October 1-31, 2017
Currents 2017 New Orleans Photo Alliance Showcase, Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, Dec 7 – Feb 4, 2017
Small Works The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO, November 2017
Pictures Without Words, Volume 001 Issue 002 Strant Magazine, Editor Shaun H. Kelly, March 8, 2017
Water The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO, October 7 – 29, 2016
Jen Ervin: Along the River Florence County Museum, Water’s Gallery, Florence SC, April 4 – June 10, 2016, solo
Family Ties: South Carolina Women Photographers on Family McKissick Museum, Columbia SC, January 4 – April 2, 2016
The Arc of Summer Slow Exposures, Pop-Up Exhibit , Georgia, September 17-20, 2015
FOTOFILMIC ‘14 dnj Gallery, Los Angeles – New York, 2015
FOTOFILMIC’14 2nd Global Juried Film Photography Traveling Exhibit, Oct 2014 – Jan 2015
Somewhere in the South: Christenberry, E. Dudik, Eggleston, Jen Ervin, Walker Pickering, Kathleen Robbins, Susan Worsham, Rebekah Jacob Gallery, Mar- Apr 15, 2014
Self-Processing – Instant Photography Ogden Museum of Southern Art, New Orleans, Oct 2014 – Jan 2015
Jen Ervin: Land & Family Charleston Center for Photography, Downtown Charleston, SC, 2013, solo
Reorientation 5 Redux Contemporary Art Center, Charleston, SC, 2012
Inaugural Redux Studio Artist Exhibition North Charleston City Gallery, SC, 2012
Becoming, Francis Marion University Art Gallery, SC, Jan-Feb 2011, solo
Contextual Intimacy in Design Boston University Art Gallery, MA, 2002
PUBLICATIONS
Booooooom, Jen Ervin: The Arc of Summer , by Anna Scheider, Dec 2019
Feature Shoot, Enchanting Photos From A Cabin In the Woods , by Ellyn Kail, Nov 7, 2019
Don’t Take Pictures, Rule Breakers: Jen Ervin by Dana Stirling, Oct 21, 2019
Float Photo Magazine, Book Review: Jen Ervin: The Arc by Marissa Iamartino, Aug 10, 2019
Pictura Gallery, Curious Photo Blog, Jen Ervin, The Arc , by Mia Diaglish, May 14, 2018
PRYME Editions, Artist Jen Ervin: The Arc of Summer by Anne Silver, Mar 2, 2018
Mother F Stop, Jen Ervin Polaroids, by Steffanie Halley, Feb 28, 2018
Lenscratch, Jen Ervin: The States Project: South Carolina , July 22, 2017
Fotopolis (Poland), Ark Lodge: Where Time Stands Still by Julia Kaczorowska, November 2016
Phases Magazine, Selected Works: Jen Ervin, France, October 9, 2016
Feature Shoot, Growing Up in the Magical Woods of South Carolina , by Ellyn Kail, September 20, 2016
Graine de Photographe, Jen Ervin photographie l’enfance au fil des saisons avec ses Polaroïds ”, by Aude Pros, France, September 2016
TIME Lightbox, Dreamy Snapshots of Family Life in the South , by Tara Johnson & Cassidy Paul, August 16, 2016
Femme Fotale Volume III – Analog, Summer 2016
Streit House Space, This Is It!, February 2016
Florence Morning News, Photographer Finds Inspiration in Nature, Family by Deborah Swearingen, (hometown press), 2016
Aint–Bad, Jen Ervin: Polaroids, October 2015
Don’t Take Pictures Magazine, Summer’s Ark: The Photography of Jen Ervin, by Inga Shun, Issue 5 , Fall 2015
aPhotoEditor, Work From PhotoNOLA, Part 2, by Jonathan Blaustein, Jan. 9, 2015
Pelican Bomb, ”Immediate Gratification: ‘Self Processing’, by Taylor Murrow , Dec 23, 2014
INTERVIEWS
Jen Ervin: Story by Storyteller , InFrame, Dec 2019
Aint–Bad Magazine , In Conversation: Jen Ervin & Kyra Schmidt, Oct 2019
Underexposed Magazine, with Davida Carta, July 29, 2017
This On That, with Matt Dunne, Australia, April 24, 2017
Light Leaked, with Ashley Kauschinger, September 2016
Streit House Space, February 23, 2016
Mull It Over, with Jonathan Cherry, August 12, 2015
Southern Glossary, with Ryan Sparks, August 12, 2015
Strant Magazine, with Shaun Kelly, March 18, 2015
AWARDS & HONORS
Critical Mass Finalist, Top 50, Photolucida, 2018
Honorable Mention, Small Works, Juried Group Show, The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO, October 7 – 29, 2016
Critical Mass Finalist, Top 200, Photolucida, 2016
Honorable Mention, Water, Juried Group Show, The Center for Fine Art Photography, Fort Collins, CO, October 7 – 29, 2016
Artist Stipend, Charleston Supported Art, Charleston, SC, 2014
ARTIST LECTURES & TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Artist Gallery Talk, Camera Works Cafe, May 2019
Curator Talk, The Arc | Illumination, Ritual, Reflection, Redux Contemporary Art Center, April 2019
Artist Lecture, Along the River, Florence County Museum, SC May 11, 2016
Panel Discussion: Somewhere in the South, Rebekah Jacob Gallery, Charleston, SC, March, 2014
Artist Lecture, Second Monday Series, Charleston Center for Photography, Charleston, SC, June, 2013
Artist Lecture, Reorientation 5, Redux Contemporary Art Center, Charleston, SC
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Independent Curator, Redux Contemporary Art Center, Charleston, SC, 2019
Freelance Graphic Designer, Charleston, SC, 2018
Studio Artist, Redux Contemporary Art Center, Charleston, SC, 2011-2013
Writer, Redux Contemporary Art Center Charleston, SC, 2011 – 2013
Freelance Portrait Photographer, Charleston, SC 2004 - 2010
Freelance Graphic Designer, Boston, MA and Charleston, SC, 2002 – 2004
Visual Arts Librarian, Boston University School of Visual Arts, 1998 – 2002