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The Face of Art: Jenny Long

People love seeing process.

That’s why when you enter The Long Gallery + Studios in downtown Penticton you’re likely to see proprietor Jenny Long and other resident artists developing new work in their studios. But then you’ll also see beautiful finished art carefully curated and for sale on the walls.

“Yes, I actively paint here,” says Jenny.

“People want the whole experience of seeing how art is developed and created as well as the finished product. It’s way more interesting this way. They can see the paints we use, how we paint, and meet the people behind the art.”

Jenny specializes in abstract portraiture, the use of colour and form to capture someone’s essence. These aren’t posed, realistic paintings, but original creations both intuitive and conceptual put to canvas that are alive with energy and expression.

Jenny does commission work to paint custom portraits of clients and their loved ones and is also well known for painting live at theatre productions, painting competitions and big events throughout the community. The Long Gallery + Studios is just that. It’s an inviting business where eight resident artists have studio space to work and create. It also showcases the work of some of Jenny’s favourite BC artists added to the mix, work that you typically don’t see in Penticton.

“The Long Gallery + Studios is alive and always growing, which is what I crave most deeply,” says Jenny.

<who>Photo Credit: NowMedia Group</who>

The art gallery out front is home to rotating displays of paintings of resident and guest artists and also includes a shop selling locally handmade jewelry, pottery, candles and prints.

“We always have a different, big piece or arrangement in the window that draws in the crowd and then they can see artists at work, the gallery and the shop,” says Jenny.

The other nine resident artists are abstract painter Robin Robertson; mixed media and digital artist Graham Fox; illustrator and painter Alexandra Brooke (Belleartiste); painter and collage artist Christina Baird; painter Ron Gladish; multi-media artist and photographer Nettie; fluid abstract painter Susie Myers; painter and illustrator Endrené Shepherd; and newest to the gallery photographer Robert Kenney.

Jenny is also an art teacher who instructs and inspires with one-on-one lessons, family sessions or small classes. “A huge influence in my foundation as an artist is a professor I had in university, Bryan Ryley. He was so adamant that I only created from this pure place of expression, one that transcends time and removes any thought to make work for an intention of selling or pleasing others. The intimate nature of connecting with colour and the power it can hold is key to my practice as well as the freedom in letting a painting unfold without trying to control it,” says Jenny.

<who>Photo Credit: NowMedia Group</who>

“I always encourage others to do the same, throw ego out the window, lose themselves and connect with authentic creativity. Everyone is an artist. You just have to get into it, practice and get busy making.”

Jenny has a ‘Hjem’ tattoo on her left bicep, a tribute to the Danish word for home and a nod to her instrumental year in Scandinavia as an exchange student when she was fresh out of highschool. “Hjem isn’t a particular place, it’s wherever you are, wherever you’re happy, wherever you are creating and learning and connecting authentically with people,” she says. The Long Gallery + Studios is such a hjem.



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