“Holding space for the misaligned moment is about a disrupted urban childhood, the climate crisis, the ravages of war, and the parallels between them. Urban architecture, functional objects, and decorative heirlooms have served as the background for my most challenging situations. Because of this, I notice the trash on the ground, floating in the air, the evolution of our structures, and the people thought of as inconsequential and riff-raff. What is left behind tells a story.
My encounters with nature as a young adult were of awe. The fecundity of nature and connection to a community can remake a place and home. The symbiotic relationship between these ecologies revitalizes. A re-centering occurs through reparations and new connections, unabashedly bearing their scars while growing together. People and places can mend when left un-assaulted, though forever altered and hopefully wiser. From this lens, I find my empathetic relationship with local and current events across the globe.
I repurpose the same glass I saw smashed in the streets and abandoned buildings. I use this material for its beauty, strength, and fragility. It contains and protects, but if broken, it fails its contents and becomes dangerous to those around it. I cut, fuse, bend, blow, cast, and crush glass. My work spans from functional to sculptural and combines to become an installation. Once manipulated, it is reborn, losing the stigma of being refuse, unwanted, broken, and loved anew. “
Jenna Efrein, from Brooklyn, NY, lives and works as a glass sculptor and designer in Miami, FL. She received her MFA from Alfred University School of Art and Design in Sculpture/Dimensional Studies ('09). Efrein is currently a Senior Lecturer of Glass at the University of Miami. Her work is about a disrupted urban childhood, the climate crisis, and the ravages of war. Predominantly, she uses glass for its material qualities to create connections and meaning. Since moving to Miami in 2014, she has had four solos and participated in over 30 group exhibitions. The Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and FUNDarte awarded her an "Artist Access Grant" ('18 & '23). A resident since 2015 at Miami's Bakehouse Art Complex, Efrein is an active and intrinsic part of the Miami art community. She was awarded a competitive Merit Scholarship for The Vermont Studio Residency ('18). As a part of their Home and Away program, Oolite Arts sent her on an artist retreat at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in 2021.