Avila, Jennie
Jennie Avila teaches art at Hagerstown Community College. She is a Visionary Artist who studied at; Moore College of Art, Hussian School of Art, Fleischer Art Memorial and The Thomas Eakins House in Philadelphia, PA; The Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts in Vienna, VA as well as with Alex and Allison Grey at Omega Institute in NY. She is a featured artist in the book, “Creative Spirituality, The Way of The Artist”, by Princeton University Sociology Professor, Robert Wuthnow - University of California Press, 2001.
Avila’s artistic interests are interwoven with music:
A National Endowment for Humanities Grant in 2010 facilitated a tour of Washington County Libraries where she presented “Picturing America”, teaching American history through art and music. A documentary about Jennie’s art and music was filmed in 1999 and featured on Art Beat cable programming. Jennie is a Smithsonian Folkways/Fast Folk Artist. On the board of the Discovery Station in Hagerstown, MD, Avila serves as a music consultant, co-designing a Civil War Music Exhibit projected to open in the fall of 2012. She performs solo and with two bands, Aca-Perco and Hot Soup. She has composed 9 albums of original music and is about to release her tenth, a new CD of true Civil War stories in song. The CD booklet will include some of her current drawings.
Jennie Avila grew up in artistic Bucks County, Pennsylvania. After the flood of April, 2005 she “floated” from the Delaware River to the Potomac River (Hagerstown, MD). She is honored to be included in the 80th Annual Cumberland Valley Artists Exhibit.
