After graduating, UCSB honors student Owen Jenkins has clear plans. He’s going to start a new long-form comics project while continuing to do freelance illustration work and sell his prints and books online.

Owen Jenkins' illustration called 'Flying House' shows a small white house with airplane wings on either side. The house appears to be stuck in red tree branches with gray smoke billowing around it. (Owen Jenkins)
Owen Jenkins’ illustration called ‘Flying House.’ (Owen Jenkins)

“In the next few years, I hope to participate in the nationwide comics scene — to have my comics published and to be tabling at art book fairs,” said Jenkins, an art history and studio art student in the College of Creative Studies (CCS). 

He is already off to a great start. His senior show “Epiphany” is on view in the CCS Gallery at UCSB, June 8-13, with a reception, 5-7 p.m. Tuesday, June 11.

In the fall, Jenkins is hoping to be a presenter at Off Register, the first Santa Barbara art book and print fair.

In 2022, he displayed his work in the climate-themed group show Through What Agency? at the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara. He was the Art Department’s 2022 Wendy Anne Finkel Scholar and a summer undergraduate research fellow that same year.

“I met a lot of brilliant people here, especially through the art honors and CCS art programs,” Jenkins said. “I was changed by discovering kinship with them, and by being part of an ecosystem of creativity and ambition.

“CCS’ print facilities have also been transformative; I’m completely addicted to the Risograph printer, and it’s a big part of my practice now,” he said.    

In “Epiphany,” Jenkins presents comics, drawings, paintings and posters. His work, he said, is “a record of visions and revelations that playfully hint at prophecy.”

Delivering prompts for meditation via tightly crafted linework, intense colors and organic forms, Jenkins questions the unknown and “what it means to hand over authorship to an enigmatic other.”

His work also engages cryptic images and symbols, surrealism, world-making and poetic word-image pairings. 

“Owen has always stood out in the most kind and humbling ways among his peers in the CCS program,” said Iman Djouini, assistant teaching professor in CCS.

“With a skillful, strong and exemplary art practice, expanding across various mediums (including print), there is no doubt that Owen will go very far, beyond his time here at UCSB,” Djouini said.

“I’m delighted to have worked with Owen throughout the years and see his collaborative and thoughtful approach inspire us all,” Djouini said.

To view Jenkins art exhibition “Epiphany” on the weekend or by appointment, email owenjenkinsart@gmail.com.