Jennifer Banzaca Paints with Yarn for "Vivid Visions"
Tufted yarn and vibrant acrylics collide in Jennifer Banzaca’s Vivid Visions, the first show of the semester at City College Art Gallery.
By Abby Sigler
Tufted yarn climbs toward the ceiling and spills onto the floor of the City College Art Gallery. Students glide their fingers across the touch-friendly pieces by the entrance.
This exhibit, titled “Vivid Visions,” features a mix of acrylic paintings and textile installations created by San Francisco-based artist Jennifer Banzaca. The colored yarn cascading from the gallery's largest wall, is the collection’s centerpiece, titled "Rise UP!". This is the first exhibit of the semester for the gallery, running from Sept. 8 to Oct. 9.
During the opening reception on Sept. 17, more than 40 students and art-lovers flowed in and out of the gallery, admiring Banzaca’s work.
“It’s like a candy store,” said longtime student John Friedberg, gesturing to the room awash in bright greens, pinks, and blues. “I go to a lot of galleries, and it’s hard to find art that makes you feel this good.”
The positivity behind the show was no accident. “For this, I wanted to create something uplifting,” Banzaca explained. “I had the idea that we’re all kind of down in the mud — so let’s lighten the mood a little bit, let’s make it a positive experience.”
Beyond the Frame
Few of the works are conventional. Of the three that are framed, Banzaca treated the frame itself as part of the composition, airbrushing gradients along the edges. This way, brilliant colors are visible from every angle. “I like thinking of the painting as a total object, which is why I paint the frames. It’s all one piece,” she said.
Banzaca described “Rise UP!,” as her most significant accomplishment in the show. “This is my largest piece to date,” she said. “I had the image of this room in my mind while I was making it, and I liked the idea of creating a fluffy mural.”
Nature remains a steady source of inspiration for Banzaca, saying she looks to the “botanical shapes and clusters” in the world around her.
Formally trained as a painter, Banzaca began experimenting with tufting during the pandemic after seeing videos of the technique on social media. “When I tried it, I became intrigued by the way I could paint with the yarn, and it really broke me out of the format of a canvas, square, or rectangle,” she recalled.
Banzaca described how the textures she can achieve through tufting lend themselves well to the nature motif. Color is another defining feature of her work. “I always gravitate to really saturated colors,” she said with a laugh. “I’m not big on beige.”
The San Francisco art community has also helped shape her trajectory. After spending years in the competitive environment of New York’s art scene, she found the Bay Area to be more open.
“People are interested and they’re engaged… and there’s more freedom here to experiment,” Banzaca said. That freedom recently took her to an artist residency in Sicily, where she absorbed the patterns and carvings of Italian architecture through her sketchbook.
New Space, Broader Reach
The City College Art Gallery’s relocation to the STEAM building in January has brought fresh visibility, attracting students from both the arts and STEM disciplines who might not otherwise visit a campus gallery.
“This was a lot more than we usually get,” student gallerist Sam Carmel said, gesturing to the crowded opening.
For anyone who stops by to see her work, Banzaca hopes they will leave feeling inspired to be more expansive in their studies and to think outside the confines of a canvas. “I hope people get a sense of being uplifted, excited,” Banzaca said.
“Vivid Visions” is on display at the City College Art Gallery through Oct. 9, located on the first floor of the STEAM building.. Admission is free and open to the public.
Gallery hours are Mondays 10 a.m.—1 p.m. and 2 p.m.—6 p.m., Tuesdays 10 a.m.—5 p.m., Wednesdays 12:30 p.m.—6 p.m. and Thursdays 12 p.m.—6 p.m.
