Use my name
Arts Division
Professor
Founding Director of UCSC OpenLab
Faculty
Astronomy & Astrophysics Department
IMS-Seymour Marine Discovery Center
Genomics Institute
Center for Coastal Climate Resilience (CCCR)
Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems
Elena Baskin Building E
E106
Digital Arts Research Center Faculty Studio
By appointment, email to arrange a time
Art Department
Parker received a B.A in art from the University of California Santa Barbara in 1990, attended The Skowhegan School Painting and Sculpture in Maine, and received her M.F.A. in Sculpture from Rutgers University in 1992. Professor Parker has been part of the faculty at the University of California Santa Cruz since 1999.
Jennifer Parker is a Professor and founding Director of the OpenLab Collaborative Research Center at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
As a media artist, Parker is recognized for her innovative work investigating issues of biology and technology, combining art, ecology, and design. Through multi-sensory and interdisciplinary collaborations, she engages scientific and creative practices to explore the sensorial world of humans and the more than human world.
As an educator, Parker carves sites for collective engagement between disciplines. Facilitating, identifying and determining the boundaries of complex, multi-dimensional space with the aim to develop (a sense of) community to encourage learning, and inform and develop the practice of its members. Her methods of inquiry build on lab and studio visits, literature reviews, and conversations with faculty and students across disciplines triggering a heuristic learning process to pursue creative research for exhibitions and publications.
Parker served as department chair from 2012-17 and as principal faculty for the Digital Arts & New Media (DANM) MFA program from 2008-18 where she directed the Mechatronics collaborative research cohort to develop research projects that combine art, design, science, and technology. and currently serves the Environmental Art and Social Practice MFA program.
Interactive Art & Design, Art/Science, BioArt & Design, Sound Art
Jennifer Parker is a distinguished artist and researcher who has received numerous notable grants, awards, and fellowships with colleagues, including the American Psychoanalytic Foundation Award, Art Matters, Artworks NEA, CITRIS Innovation Award, SEED grants, Epsilon/Alliance Environmental Art and Education, the Kate Neal Kinley Memorial Fellowship Award, the New Forms Regional Grant from the NEA’s Inter-Arts Program, the New Jersey State Council of the Arts, and NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates. Her artwork has been exhibited extensively, with solo and group shows in galleries and museums across the United States, Europe, and Asia.
Select Articles/Book Chapter:
Becoming Fluid with the Algae Society BioArt Design Lab, becoming-Fluid is part of the BECOMING collection, a creative research publication, edited by Josh Amstrong, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland & Object-a Creative Studio and co-edited by Alexandra Lakind 2024
Parker, J. Foraging Microbacteria in Space, Genomic Gastronomy, Space Seeds: Food Phreaking issue 4/12, ISSN 2372-6502 (Nov 2023)
The Algae Society BioArt Design Lab: Exploring multispecies entanglements and making kin with algae, Leonardo Magazine, MIT Press, Volume 55, Issue 4 August print issue, includes magazine cover. Digital version available earlier * (Mar 2022)
Science and Collectivism in Artistic Creation: Embracing Climate Change through Art
The International Journal of the Arts in Society: Annual Review. Volume 14, Issue 1:12-20, (2020)
Species Loss: Exploring Opportunities with Art–Science
Integrative and Comparative Biology, Volume 58, Issue 1 (July 2018)
Making Sense of Sensors
Digital Culture & Society (DCS),Vol. 3, Issue 1/2017 Published Online: 2017-06-27 (Jun 2017)
Slow FAST Forward: Enacting Digital Art and Civic Opportunities Book Chapter by J. Parker
Book: Artistic Citizenship: Artistry, Social Responsibility, and Ethical Praxis (2016)
Steps to an Ecology of Networked Knowledge and Innovation: Enabling New Forms of Collaboration among Sciences, Engineering, Arts, and Design
LEONARDO, MIT Press Journals (2015)