Dr. Jennifer Vanderpool is a multidisciplinary artist, curator, and writer based in Los Angeles. She explores workers’ lives and cities through her global community-specific and site-responsive exhibitions. Her exhibitions have been funded by organizations such as the British Academy Leverhulme Trust, US-UK Fulbright Commission, Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, Ohio Arts Council, Kunstrådet: Danish Arts Council, Kulturrådet: Swedish Arts Council, and Malmö Stad. The National Endowment for the Arts has also co-awarded her funding for a California community art collaboration. The Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts have supported her collaborative curatorial projects. She has exhibited at prominent institutions such as L.A. Louver, Edward Cella Art and Architecture, Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Riverside Art Museum, and the Wende Museum in Los Angeles. Furthermore, she has had solo shows at museums and galleries in the US, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, the UK, Denmark, Sweden, Ukraine, Russia, and Vietnam. Dr. Vanderpool was also one of the 2023-24 DéPot artists-in-residence. She is a Lecturer in Critical & Integrative Studies in the Art Department at the University of California at Santa Barbara. 

City Beautiful 

I intend to continue working on my City Beautiful project, which I started during my 2023-24 DéPot residency. City Beautiful is a socially engaged, community-specific, and site-responsive art project that will be publicly accessible. The project focuses on my exploration of my hometown, Youngstown, Ohio, after its decline in prosperity. It tells the story of instability through the architecture and the existing built environment. 

I will use augmented and virtual mapping to document and digitally recreate the fading grandeur of downtown, industrial remains, and deserted neighborhoods. This project aims to showcase the community’s vision of a post-industrial future. It will also include input from locals, activists, urban planners, scholars, and others, providing commentary on the community’s history, current challenges, and future potential. 

Ultimately, City Beautiful will serve as a case study showcasing the story of Youngstown, and it will offer a virtual representation of a post-prosperity city. This virtual experience will be accessible on personal devices and public library resources, enriched with the narratives of citizens, scholarly insights, and reflections from activists.

website: https://www.jennifervanderpool.com/