JENNIFER QUINONES

Hear ye, hear ye, medieval lords and ladies, Egyptian pharaohs and scribes, and cat lovers one and all. Summertime is overjoyed to announce our new artist in residence, the one and only Jennifer Quinones, known to her feline friends as Cat Queen and Noble Cat – and to her human cohort as Jenn.

“Oh my god, it was very unexpected,” Jenn said of learning the news. “My dream was to have a show at Summertime and I never never knew it would be accepted.”

Jenn’s juicy colored pencil drawings reimagine iconic eras in history and pop culture with cats as their protagonists. Imagine Marie Antoinette as a cat, replacing her towering cake platter with a tuna tin. Or Joan of Arc with perky ears popping out of her metallic armor, paw on her heart as she prepares for battle. Wink-wink moments hide in every nook and cranny – mice in executioner's robes rolling out the guillotine. Jenn’s work combines the ecstatic energy of superfandom with dark humor and cheeky irreverence, creating an alternate history of the world with less war and more whiskers. “I do kind of consider myself dark and I am a crazy cat lady,” Jenn said.

In addition to the cat kingdom, Jenn is inspired by Frida Kahlo and Halloween World – a dark fantasyland she visits while dreaming. Like Frida, Jenn sees art as her destiny; she wants to forge a creative legacy and sees the creative imagination as a means to healing and self-determination. Jenn is frequently visited by the spirit of Frida as well as characters from Halloween World including her demon fathers, muscular and loving protectors who provide abundant love, encouragement, courage, and creative inspiration.

A longtime member of YAI Arts, Jenn was selected from a competitive Residency Open Call. During her residency, Jenn plans to focus on two of her favorite eras: medieval times and Ancient Egypt, rendering both from a cat-centric point of view. She dreams of transforming Summertime into an Egyptian tomb, or perhaps her own version of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, her favorite New York museum. In her first week at Summertime, Jenn enjoyed a shopping spree at Michaels – her favorite craft store – and began working on an Egyptian playlist.