Inspiration Through Exploration Archives

inspiration for new work

October 21, 2026 October 19, 2026

This summer the desert plants on our property have been growing like crazy – I swear that you could watch them grow if you just sat down for long enough. The desert is opportunistic in that way, when there is water, the switch is turned on and everything goes for it. When there isn’t water, the switch is off and everything goes dormant and is questionably dead looking.

I have always made wiggly spiral forms in my work from the very beginning, so sometimes it feels so comfortable to go back to these shapes. These shapes are everywhere in nature from seashells to water flow to wood grain. Here I’m seeing the tendrils of vines creeping across the desert, the aloe leaves growing and lizard tails whipping. It’s so fun to take these newer inspirations and create older familiar forms in a new way and new combination. I’m not sure if I’ll make more of these or if they will evolve into something else, but I’m enjoying having them in the studio and watching them talk to each other.

out and about

November 6, 2025 November 6, 2025

While we sometimes don’t leave the property for days on end, it is fun to get out and take advantage of all the things to do in our community. So last week we went on an adventure to the santuario de los cactus while we were on our way to run errands in La Paz. It was such a surprise to see how different the biodiversity was only an hour away from our own desert. This area gets more rain than we do due to it’s proximity to the Sierra Laguna Mountain range making the trees and cactus taller, which provided so much shade to walk under, the dirt was loamier where ours is more of a decomposed granite and while many of the plants were the same as ours, there were not nearly as many torote trees as we have. We spent time walking the multiple paths and talking with the host of the space who had a ton of knowledge about the area and the plants. And it was such a nice way to begin a day of running errands in the big city.

We also went to town in the evening over Dia de los Muertos to enjoy the local events happening in our plaza. There were performances, alters, vendors and the night ends with the parade of the catrinas with elaborate costumes and make up. It’s so lovely to see the community come together to create art, celebrate those that have passed (including pets!) and to share the beauty of the culture.

out and about | the dirt | Jenni Ward Earth Art Studio

just a dash of water

September 17, 2024 September 17, 2024

We had our first big storm of hurricane season come through and while it was less intense than predicted for our area, it did bring with it a good amount of rain. If you look across our desert right now, it appears dead and brown, but if you look closer at the branches, you’ll see the tiny bits of growth starting.

I love how opportunistic the desert is, creating the prettiest, stain glass windows of green leaves with the smallest amount of water. Also notice the very sharp thorns protecting those tiny leaves from being gobbled up. This is just the start, soon the whole desert will look lush and verdant.

just a dash of water | the dirt | Jenni Ward ceramic sculpture

The image on the far left, above is a Palo Adan tree, similar to an Ocotillo they are thorned and produce small leaves and bright red flowers that the hummingbirds love. The middle image is a Torote tree which grows prolifically here and has thick trucks with papery bark, small fan shaped leaves and produces purple berries that the birds enjoy. The image on the right, I’m almost positive is a wild cape plum, it has a fleshy trunk and branches and produces an edible fruit, that is supposed to be delicious.

desert inspiration

February 1, 2024 February 1, 2024

As I’ve started to get back into playing with clay, I’m paying closer attention to the natural world that I’m currently living in. The plants, birds, bugs and bones I come across here are inspirational in texture, color combinations and form. I love how quietly persistent the desert is, even in the toughest of environments, there is life abounding if you look closely. It will be interesting to see how I use these forms and textures translated into clay. I also had to include a photo of the most spectacular double rainbow I’ve ever seen which happened just as the sun rose over the mountains and within minutes it was gone.

Here’s just a few images of what’s inspiring me here…

desert inspiration | the dirt | Jenni Ward ceramic sculpture

fennel inspiration

June 30, 2023 October 10, 2023

Umbels have been an inspiration for me for years now, and I’ve created numerous works based on their forms. I found this fennel umbel in full bloom on a morning walk the other day and had to share side-by-side views of my studio in full bloom next to these guys. Nature definitely inspires!

fennel inspiration | the dirt | Jenni Ward ceramic sculpture

To learn more about A Feast of Fennels, click here.

grateful

November 24, 2022 November 23, 2022

the outside scoop: 7 | the dirt | Jenni Ward ceramic sculpture

from our family to yours…

hope you get to eat all the goodies, enjoy the all the company and are grateful for the adventure.

wishing you all a happy thanksgiving

Inspiration at the aquarium

April 13, 2022 April 13, 2022

It’s not hard to get inspired about nature, the ocean and all its amazing creatures when you visit the Monterey Bay Aquarium. I’ve been many times but hadn’t been there in many years and it was such a good reminder of was an incredible resource it is and it’s less than an hour away from my studio.

While the swaying kelp forests and swirling anchovy tanks are reliably hypnotic, they just opened their newest exhibition Into the Deep, which showcases the strangest of creatures from the depths of the ocean floor. The Japanese Spider Crabs were so gigantic, they almost looked fake and the Basket Starfish is otherworldly. But really, I can’t stop watching this video I took of a bloody belly comb jelly, it’s only red when spotlit since the red light spectrum is gone at that depth allowing it to hide in plain site….nature is the best artist.

water inspiration…

April 7, 2022 April 4, 2022

I’ve been spending a lot more time in the water these days…it’s freezing but also exhilarating, I always feel better after a swim, as if the whole day can be reset by a good dunking. Swimming has always been a place of meditation for me, and water has always been an inspiration. Lately, I’ve been diving deeper (pun not intended!) into the science of water; reading more, learning more and thinking more about all the ways we encounter water. How we take its resource for granted, how we live in the subtle balance of having too much or too little water, how our bodies literally 60% water and really paying attention to what’s below the surface.

These images below are of radiolarian skeletons under an electron microscope, radiolarians are single cell planktons that live in all oceans, they trap carbon from the atmosphere and make up the majority of siliceous ooze at the bottom of the deep oceans. I’ve been fascinated by their complex forms for a long time and have based many works of art around these forms.

Over the coming months, I’ll be working on a number of new pieces using these as inspiration working towards an exhibition at Smith Gallery on the UCSC campus. I’m most excited that through the university, I will be partnering up with professors and students who are studying these creatures, their impact on the larger animals of the ocean, climate change and how we are all connected. I can’t wait to geek out on the science side of all this and use my art as the vehicle to share that knowledge in the upcoming exhibition. I am inspired.

Throwback Thursday…

March 31, 2022 March 30, 2022

Recently reorganizing files led me to going through some vintage works and also made me realize that I’ve been taking my art out into nature for nearly ten years now. A sense of place and belonging to that place has become so much a part of the work and my installations, that I don’t think about the work without thinking about these places, even through the connections are as ephemeral as a shadow.

In the beginning there were experiments, some that were more successful than others. Some work didn’t connect with the space as well as others, it took some paying attention to the spaces and the work that was naturally coming out of the studio to find those connections. To figure out which pieces were more terrestrial and which more aquatic, but it felt that somehow the circle was complete by placing these pieces back where their original inspiration began, like returning the clay to the earth.

When I’ve encountered other people during the placement of these pieces, they always assume that I found the work growing or washed up or reveled somehow and wonder what anomaly of nature they are – so I guess they do look like they belong there. Below are some early images from the start of this process. If you want to check out some more images and newer ‘in the field’ installations, click here. There will be more to come in the future, I don’t see me stopping this part of my creative process any time soon… enjoy.