You Stole My Hat

Jenny Ustick

You Stole My Hat is an online exhibition showcasing selected mural and studio works by Jenny Roesel Ustick. Since the 2017 Women’s March on Washington and the debut of the Pink Pussy Hat, Ustick has been examining the history and relationship between craft and protest. Taking a deep dive into early American imagery, Ustick found links to an ancient Roman symbol used around the world to represent freedom from slavery: the Phrygian cap, or Liberty Cap.

Focusing on the Statue of Freedom (U.S. Capitol dome) as a unique example of artistic censorship rooted in racial oppression, Ustick engages in inquiry about the intersection of race and gender in America, and seeks to elevate the visibility of those outside the white patriarchal power structures that pervade American history, culture, and how we define patriotism.

Jenny Ustick, Crux, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 60 inches, 2018.

Jenny Ustick, Right Side, Wrong Side, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 60 inches, 2018.

Jenny Ustick with Toia Grehan and Kiik Create, Untitled, collaborative mural (detail), Plaza Gurruchaga, Villa Crespo, Buenos Aires, Argentina, approximately 14 x 150 feet. Sinteplast on stucco, 2017.

Above three images: Rooftop Terrace Palimpsesto Murals (detail shots), layered, delayed collaborative mural. Part of Proyecto Palimpsesto, La Fundación 'ace para el Arte Contemporáneo y el 'acePIRAR | Programa Internacional de Residencias Artísticas (International Artist Residency Program, Palimpsest Mural Residency), Buenos Aires, Argentina, June 2017.

Jenny Ustick with Toia Grehan and Kiik Create, Untitled, collaborative mural (installation view), Plaza Gurruchaga, Villa Crespo, Buenos Aires, Argentina, approximately 14 x 150 feet. Sinteplast on stucco, 2017.

Jenny Ustick, Liberta, Mural, Graniti, Sicily, Messina, Italy, acrylic on stucco, part of Graniti Murales program, 2018.

Jenny Ustick, Reconstruction, acrylic on panel, 8 x 33 feet, 2018.

Above and right: Jenny Ustick, We Are Coming For Your Seats, limited edition screen print, 26 x 20 inches, 2018.

Jenny Ustick, Columbia 1, acrylic on canvas, 4 x 3 feet, 2019.

Jenny Ustick, Warrior, limited edition screen print, 26 x 20 inches, 2019.

Jenny Ustick, Columbia 2, acrylic on canvas, 4 x 3 feet, 2019.

Jenny Ustick, Gloria, Phoolan, Freddie, graphite and aerosol on paper, 7 x 15 inches, 2018.

Jenny Ustick, Hebe, the Moon, the Rivers, and the Land (right and left sides), mural, acrylic on brick, McMinnville, TN, July 2020.

Jenny Roesel Ustick is Associate Professor of Practice and Foundations Coordinator in the School of Art - DAAP at the University of Cincinnati. She holds an MFA from the same program and a BFA from the Art Academy of Cincinnati.

A Cincinnati native, Ustick has become one of the most prominent muralists in her region, completing over 10 large-scale public mural projects with ArtWorks and several independent projects that include commissions from the US Soccer Federation, 21C Museum Hotel Cincinnati, and multiple local establishments. Her Mr. Dynamite (James Brown) mural in Cincinnati has earned her and Cincinnati international attention. Elsewhere in the U.S., Ustick has created or contributed to murals in Tennessee, New Mexico, Illinois, Kentucky, and Florida, including invitations to the Walls for Women mural festival in Tennessee, and the CRE8IV Mural Festival in Rockford, Illinois. Internationally, Ustick has participated in the Proyecto Palimipsesto mural residency with La Fundación ‘ace para el Arte Contemporáneo y el ‘acePIRAR, Programa Internacional de Residencias Artísticas in 2017 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and was Artist in Residence in spring 2018 with the Graniti Murales program in Graniti, Sicily.
Ustick’s multimedia solo and collaborative studio practice is based in drawing and painting, with expansions into multimedia textile and time-based installations. Her solo and collaborative works have been exhibited in numerous galleries and museum venues that include the Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, the Dayton Art Institute, the Cincinnati Art Museum, New Harmony Gallery of Contemporary Art, and Redline Contemporary in Denver. She has participated in multiple international art fairs including Governors Island Art Fair in New York, Edinburgh Fringe Festival, and ArtPrize.

Ustick is also a published critical art writer, contributing essays to The Cincinnati Anthology from Belt Publishing, and Still They Persist: Protest Art from the 2017 Women’s Marches. Ustick’s mural projects have been featured in Forbes, American Quarterly, Hyperallergic, La Sicilia, and numerous local publications and broadcasts; collaborative studio projects have appeared in the Huffington Post and Venus Zine. You can find her work at www.jennyroeselustick.com, and on Instagram @j_r_ustick.

2020 Work: https://www.jennyroeselustick.com/2020.html
2018 Murals: https://www.jennyroeselustick.com/2018-murals.html
American Quarterly article: https://muse.jhu.edu/article/752335
Blog by Kristin Luna about Walls for Women mural: https://www.camelsandchocolate.com/hebe-mural-mcminnville-tennessee/