Jen Stark ’05 (Fiber BFA, Animation minor)
A stack of colored construction paper. An X-Acto knife. A young artist studying abroad in the south of France, experimenting with whatever materials she could afford.
It was an unlikely beginning for an artistic practice that would eventually span intricate paper sculptures, large-scale public installations, interactive projections, and collaborations with some of the world’s most recognizable brands. But for Jen Stark ’05, who graduated from MICA with a major in Fibers and a minor in Animation, the discovery was as intuitive as the work itself.
“I decided to buy one of the cheapest materials that seemed to have the most potential: a stack of colored construction paper,” Stark recalls. “I brought it back to the studio and started cutting it with an X-Acto knife and shaping it. That’s where my paper sculptures were born.”
Two decades later, those early experiments have evolved into a distinctive visual language of cascading colors, hypnotic geometries, and patterns that seem to pulse with movement. Her work invites viewers to look closer, lose themselves in the details, and increasingly, become active participants in the experience.
Stark’s journey reflects the enduring value of an education that encourages artists to cross disciplinary boundaries, question conventions, and discover possibilities in unexpected places.
Growing up in Miami, Florida, Stark was surrounded by an abundance of visual inspiration. The city’s tropical vegetation, saturated colors, and vibrant mix of South American, Central American, and Caribbean cultures left a lasting impression.
“I think the plants, the colors, and the cultures all informed my work,” she says. “Eventually, those influences started evolving and becoming more abstract and intertwined in what I create.”
When she began considering colleges, Stark applied widely. MICA offered both an exceptional art education and something entirely unfamiliar to a young Floridian: the prospect of experiencing snow.
“I got into MICA and was really excited to come here because I had never experienced snow before,” she remembers. “It was also an amazing school.”
At MICA, Stark gravitated toward the Fibers department, drawn particularly to the program’s open-minded, conceptual approach. Although the curriculum introduced students to traditional textile techniques, her instructors encouraged the students to experiment beyond the boundaries of the discipline.
“[We were] encouraged us to think outside the box and work with whatever materials we were passionate about,” Stark says.
That philosophy extended to her Animation studies, where she was similarly encouraged to follow her interests, even when those interests stretched beyond conventional definitions of animation. Stark soon discovered that the combination of Fibers and Animation was not contradictory; it was liberating. This freedom to experiment would become foundational to her career.
“In most people’s minds, that combination might not make sense, but MICA was very encouraging,” she explains. “The attitude was, ‘Yeah, let’s mix all these weird things and see where it goes.’”
During her junior year, Stark spent six months studying abroad in Aix-en-Provence, France, through a program connected to MICA. She lived with a French family whose members were ceramic artists, learned to cook, and immersed herself in a new environment. It was there that she purchased the inexpensive colored paper that would change the trajectory of her work.
What began as an economical solution became an artistic revelation. By cutting, layering, and manipulating paper, Stark discovered a medium capable of expressing the organic movement and intricate structures that fascinated her. This creative process remains rooted in experimentation.
Although her compositions can appear mathematically precise, intuition plays an equally important role. The Fibonacci sequence and golden ratio, both found in natural structures, provide inspiration, while repetition becomes a form of meditation.
“The repetitive, meditative process is also hypnotic,” Stark explains. “It relaxes me.”
That balance between structure and spontaneity gives her work its distinctive energy. Brilliant rainbow gradients coexist with restrained grayscale palettes. Repeated forms suggest growth, movement, and infinite expansion. Even static pieces can seem animated, as though their patterns are shifting before the viewer’s eyes.
After graduating from MICA in 2005, Stark returned to Miami, uncertain of her next steps. An unexpected phone call from a friend offered what she thought was an opportunity to work on models for an anthropology museum in Philadelphia. She accepted immediately, only to discover upon arrival that the job was actually with Anthropologie, the retail company. This misunderstanding became a formative professional experience.
At approximately 22 years old, Stark traveled around the country working on store installations, spending weeks at a time in different cities. The work taught her practical lessons about discipline, independence, and professional confidence. But eventually, she recognized that she wanted to devote that energy to her own artistic vision.
“I didn’t want to keep making other people’s art,” she recalls. “I wanted to make my own.”
With some savings to support her transition, Stark quit and moved back to Miami. She began selling work directly from her studio, participating in group exhibitions, and securing solo shows. Eventually, one opportunity led to another, and the career she had imagined as an art student began to take shape.
Stark’s early professional success emerged within the traditional fine art world, where her work appeared on gallery walls and pedestals. Yet over time, she began to imagine something more expansive. She knew she wanted more than hanging artwork on white walls or displaying it on pedestals.
Her exploration of interactive projections opened an entirely new creative direction. Rather than simply observing an artwork, visitors could engage with it physically, touching projected imagery and influencing its movement. In some installations, the experience resembles playing a musical instrument, bringing together color, animation, sound, and human interaction.
“That really opened my eyes to the possibility of involving the viewer and allowing people to become like children again, to play and interact with the artwork,” Stark says.
Her early fascination with stop-motion animation found a new expression in these immersive environments. What once existed as movement suggested through static forms could now respond directly to the people experiencing it. For Stark, the transformation represents more than technological experimentation. It reflects a desire to make art accessible, joyful, and participatory.
As Stark’s reputation grew, so did opportunities to bring her visual language into unexpected settings. Collaborations with companies including Vans® and Skechers®, along with projects involving public art and large-scale digital displays, introduced her work to audiences far beyond traditional galleries.
A Vans® collaboration in Joshua Tree proved particularly influential. Working with projection-mapping specialists who illuminated massive desert rocks, Stark began imagining how animation could respond to human movement. That experience reinforced her belief in the creative power of working across disciplines.
“I’m just one person, and my knowledge isn’t infinite,” she explains. “I love collaborating with people who specialize in different areas.”
Yet expanding into commercial and technological spaces has required careful decisions about artistic identity. Stark is enthusiastic about reaching wider audiences, but she is equally committed to protecting the integrity of her work.
“I try not to do things just for a paycheck,” she says. “It has to make sense and feel right for me.”
She has learned that maintaining a recognizable artistic voice sometimes means declining opportunities, even attractive ones. That conviction has helped her navigate a career spanning museum collections, international exhibitions, brand collaborations, and immersive experiences without losing the creative instincts that first guided her experiments with paper.
For all her professional accomplishments, Stark remains connected to the importance of encouragement and community. Her grandfather, a reporter and photographer for the Miami Herald who also made art in his spare time, helped nurture her creativity. Her parents supported her artistic interests through school programs, even before anyone knew whether art could become a viable career. At MICA, professors encouraged her to take risks and pursue unexpected combinations of materials and disciplines.
Today, Stark sees that support as essential, but she also emphasizes the importance of developing confidence from within.
“I’ve learned that I have to be my biggest fan,” she says. “If you don’t believe in yourself, nobody else is going to do it for you.”
Looking back, even she finds the scale of her career surprising. Collaborating on shoes with Snoop Dogg, presenting artwork on the Sphere, and seeing her work reach audiences around the world were possibilities she could scarcely have imagined as a 20-year-old art student. She credits a combination of hard work, luck, self-belief, and the willingness to envision an ambitious future.
What began with a few sheets of colored paper has become a career defined by possibility. And for Stark, the most exciting possibilities may still lie ahead.
Join the festivities as MICA honors its 200-year history, recognizes its present success, and looks forward to a bright future. Throughout 2026, the College will be sharing community stories and announcing one-of-a-kind events on campus, in Baltimore, and beyond.
