her/she
Arts Division
Professor
Director of UCSC OpenLab
Faculty
Environmental Studies Department
Center for Agroecology
Center for Coastal Climate Resilience (CCCR)
Astronomy & Astrophysics Department
Genomics Institute
Elena Baskin Building E
E106
Digital Arts Research Center Faculty Studio
By appointment, email to arrange a time
Art Department
Jennifer Parker, Professor and artist, who works independently and collaboratively with students, colleagues, and community partners to co-create projects with OpenLab Collaborative Research Center at UCSC, an evolving site for interdisciplinary research in the Arts since 2010. Her practice moves across biology, technology, art, and ecology, guided by multi-sensory collaborations that braid scientific inquiry with creative practice. Rooted in reciprocity and shared authorship, these collective efforts unsettle disciplinary boundaries and open dialogues that inspire imagination, care, and environmental awareness.
As an educator, Parker creates transformative learning environments where disciplines converge and curiosity drives exploration. Her teaching integrates lab experiments, studio practices, and collaborative discussions to inspire inquiry that evolves into exhibitions, installations, and scholarly publications. She prioritizes collaboration and encourages students to embrace boundary-pushing approaches to creative research and environmental advocacy.
Parker served as department chair from 2012-2017 and was principal faculty for the Digital Arts & New Media (DANM) MFA program from 2008-2018, where she led the Mechatronics collaborative research cohort to develop OpenLab projects that combined art, design, science, and technology. Currently, she teaches in the Environmental Art and Social Practice MFA program, continuing her commitment to transdisciplinary exploration.
Parker also contributes to the Center for Coastal Climate Resilience, where she engages with questions at the intersection of technology, creativity, and critical thought. Through practice-based research and critical reflection within the experimental humanities, she investigates how ecosystems reshape artistic practices and our understanding of sensory interaction, agency, and collaboration.
Parker received a B.A in art from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1990, attended The Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine, and received her M.F.A. in Sculpture from Rutgers University in 1992. Professor Parker has been part of the faculty at the University of California Santa Cruz since 1999.
Visual Arts, Social Practice, Environmental Art, BioArt, Contemporary Art & Technology
Jennifer Parker is a distinguished artist and researcher. Her artwork has been exhibited extensively, with solo and group shows in galleries and museums across the United States, Europe, and Asia. She has received numerous notable grants, awards, and fellowships with colleagues, including the American Psychoanalytic Foundation Award, Art Matters, Artworks NEA, CITRIS Innovation Award, SEED grants, Epsilon/Alliance Environmental Art and Education, the Kate Neal Kinley Memorial Fellowship Award, the New Forms Regional Grant from the NEA’s Inter-Arts Program, the New Jersey State Council of the Arts, NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates, and UC Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives (MRPI) planning and implementations grants.
Parker, J. Foraging Microbacteria in Space, Genomic Gastronomy, Space Seeds: Food Phreaking issue 4/12, ISSN 2372-6502 (Nov 2023)
The Algae Society BioArt Design Lab: Exploring multispecies entanglements and making kin with algae, Leonardo Magazine, MIT Press, Volume 55, Issue 4 August print issue, includes magazine cover. Digital version available earlier * (Mar 2022)
Science and Collectivism in Artistic Creation: Embracing Climate Change through Art
The International Journal of the Arts in Society: Annual Review. Volume 14, Issue 1:12-20, (2020)
Species Loss: Exploring Opportunities with Art–Science
Integrative and Comparative Biology, Volume 58, Issue 1 (July 2018)
Making Sense of Sensors
Digital Culture & Society (DCS),Vol. 3, Issue 1/2017 Published Online: 2017-06-27 (Jun 2017)
Slow FAST Forward: Enacting Digital Art and Civic Opportunities Book Chapter by J. Parker
Book: Artistic Citizenship: Artistry, Social Responsibility, and Ethical Praxis (2016)
Steps to an Ecology of Networked Knowledge and Innovation: Enabling New Forms of Collaboration among Sciences, Engineering, Arts, and Design
LEONARDO, MIT Press Journals (2015)