Jjenna Andrews - Faculty - Studio Art

Hello! I am Dr. Jjenna Hupp Andrews and am an Assistant Professor of Studio Art at Mott and teach Sculpture, Art Foundations, and Art Appreciation courses.

My education background includes a BFA in Metalsmithing/3D and MFA in Sculpture from Central Michigan University. I also have a Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Studies, with a concentration Humanities and Society, focused on visual/media culture and critical visual literacy at Union Institute & University.

I have been teaching studio art and art history/appreciation at various universities and colleges for 20 years, and have been teaching online for 15yrs. This is my 4th year here at Mott. I love that every semester and every new class is an adventure in exploring the visual arts with students with a variety of backgrounds, especially in Art Appreciation where much of the art we explore is totally new to the students.

In addition to trying to keep up with my three daughters and husband, I am a practicing mixed media and installation artist working mostly with a variety of fibers, metals, and found materials. My sculptural work uses the figural form to explore empathy and one's skin as a permeable membrane allowing for varying intensities of connection between the self and the other. This focus has manifested through my sculptural and installation work dealing with water issues in Flint, in Michigan, and in the country as a whole. My current work is turning to the crisis of refugees of war around the world and at our own borders. “Suffer the Little Children…” started as is a series of portraits of children in Syria, Iraq, Gaza, and Yemen war zones and refugee camps, but is moving into participatory installations engaging the public with issues of refugee human rights happening at our own borders.

I am very interested in the social power of art and its social efficacy of visual and performance art. In my teaching I am passionate about visual/media literacy in higher education, the intersections between the fine art and media realms, and how visual art and media can be used to engage with diversity/difference and most importantly, with issues of social justice.

My focus as a scholar-educator is always on how we can best facilitate student learning, critical thinking, and students' engagement with the world around them and how they can make a difference in this world.

Feel free to check out my website to see both my art and my student’s art:
jjennahuppandrews.net