Jenny K. Hager is a Professor of Sculpture at the University of North Florida, where she has been teaching since 2006. She received her MFA in Sculpture and Digital Media from San Jose State University in San Jose, CA. Interested in a variety of processes and materials, including steel, cast iron, post-it notes, video, wood, digital photography and found objects, she finds inspiration in dreams, objects from her childhood, gadgets, sea life and other curiosities. She is also very interested in collaboration; the spirit of community important in both her teaching practice and in her own work.

Hager’s work has been exhibited across the country and recently in the Cymru Ironstone Castle Exhibition in Wales, the Pedvale Open-Air Art Museum in Latvia and Il Giardino di Daniel Spoerri in Seggiano, Italy. Flight Lab, a video installation by Hager, has traveled to the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans and York, Pennsylvania. Hager’s most recent series “Second Line” celebrates diversity of culture, individual storytelling and the spirit of the Second Line tradition of New Orleans parade culture. In this series, Hager creates large-scale parade animals inspired by the Chinese zodiac and infused with a personal narrative.

Hager is an active member of the Jacksonville art community. She has collaborated on various projects with the Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, CoRK, Ponte Vedra Cultural Center, MOCA, Hemming Park, Gerdau AmeriSteel, Atlantic Beach, the City of Jacksonville, and City Hall, to name a few. She has served on the MOCA Collections and Exhibitions committee, as well as the MOCA Education committee. Interested in promoting local artists and creating creative networks in Jacksonville, she has served on the steering committee for the Northeast Florida Sculptors group since its inception in 2009.

In 2014, Hager created Sculpture Walk, an outdoor sculpture park for downtown Jacksonville. Sculpture Walk, Inc., a registered 501(c)3, has hosted over 26 outdoor sculptures, bike racks and sculptural benches by international, national and local artists. https://sculpturewalkjax.com/sculptures/ She created a sculpture park in Jacksonville Beach, called UNF Seaside Sculpture Park, which showcases large-scale outdoor sculptures by UNF Sculpture students. The new park opened in the Summer of 2016. https://havic.org/unf-seaside-sculpture-park/ Hager and her husband, Lance Vickery, also created a Sculpture on Campus Program at UNF, which showcases large-scale outdoor sculpture, sculptural bike racks and benches by faculty and students.