Fiber art installation, made of found vintage latch hook rugs, by Hudson Valley artist Jacinta Bunnell.

Latch hook rugs have always been a democratized art form, made accessible from small-town five-and-dime stores in the form of kits with easy-to-follow instructions. Latch hooking as a latchkey kid gave Bunnell something tangible and evolving to do, “latching” her to others doing the same, spanning geography and era, quietly crafting in solitude. As a child who did not yet know she was an artist, creating latch hook rugs was one of the closest things to an artistic practice that Jacinta had.

From 2020-2023, Bunnell sewed together a collection of latch hook rugs she had been gathering for years, amassing as gifts from friends and seeking out at yard sales. As the project took shape, she began creating new rugs - first from vintage instructions and then from her own designs. For three years, she latch hooked and sewed until she had several immense patchwork rugs assembled from other rugs before her. 

Bunnell’s work is fabricated from objects dethroned to a low shelf at a weekend church rummage sale. She makes things out of other things, and they stick around for another moment, reanimated by her nostalgia. LATCHKEY LATCH HOOK TOWNSHIP knits together a collage of yarn, entwining the essence of friends and strangers, their meditative crafting energy funneled into a singular focal point, a unified whole, a less lonely day.

Bunnell has surrounded herself with other grown latchkey kids. Magnetically drawn to one another, they are the scene in the apocalypse movie where the remaining survivors slowly find each other after disaster - one by one, across time, parental deaths, scavenged sleeves of Saltines, prank calls, lost keys, and heart attacks. They unite and break each other's isolation. Latchkey kids are some of the most innovative and resourceful people around.  Because of what one learns to do when they are their own custodian - first tentatively and sloppily, and then with great efficiency - they become a special kind of magisterial wizard of adaptation and inventive solution-finding.

Bunnell has built a refuge where all the latchkey kids may gather and choreograph new routines together, tucked safely under the canopy of devotion-drenched yarn, a place to safely ride out the storms in unison.

When Jacinta was a latchkey kid, her mom had only two rules:

DON’T EVER, EVER SAY “I didn't ask to be born.” 

DON’T TRACK MUD INTO THE HOUSE.

All we ask is that you please follow these rules while you are visiting LATCHKEY LATCH HOOK TOWNSHIP.

Fun-A-Day, February 2020 - High Falls, NY

Fun-A-Day is an annual community creative project. Each person picks a project, does it every day for the month of January, and then comes together for an art show in February. It's a terrific way to keep motivated in the darkest days of winter! Projects can be anything at all. People have done Song-A-Day, Haiku-A-Day, Scrabble-A-Day, Movie-Review-A-Day, Pie-A-Day. It began in Philadelphia by a group of artists and community organizers and has now spread around the world.

Jacinta collaged 31 photos of her younger self into caring, nervous system-regulating environments filled with images from the natural world. How many of us actually got everything we needed as little ones? And how did this affect the decisions we have made throughout our lives? I think about this almost everyday and it gives me compassion for everyone. Through this daily practice, I offered Little Me safety, peaceful grace, and a protective shield from any badness and unlove she may have encountered. I’m surrounding this little one with rainbows, trees, icebergs, butterflies, and flowers to bring her calm and joy. Because I posted the art on Instagram, friends beamed love to little me, an unexpected added benefit to this project.

These works are for sale. Contact Jacinta Bunnell for details.

MIXED MEDIA WORKS by JACINTA BUNNELL

In May of 2019, Jacinta traveled to the Bay of Fundy with the photographer Deborah Degraffenreid for an artist retreat. During their retreat, Jacinta spent a quiet week working at a worn, simple desk in a rustic cabin, soaking in the stunning surroundings. This body of work is inspired by intentional time spent in a place where one might look down and find a hint of amethyst on the beach or look up and catch the Northern Lights dazzling in the sky.

A significant part of Jacinta's art has always involved found paper, and this mixed-media collection is no exception. She brought minimal supplies with her, primarily consisting of various ephemera passed down to her by artists Parvaneh and Richard Holloway. These paper relics were originally owned by Fritz Trams, the Treasurer of the High Woods Sportsman’s Club in the 1970s, and were later inherited by the Holloways when they purchased Tram’s Saugerties home. The gift included bank statements from a now-defunct Saugerties, NY bank, handwritten notes from club members, canceled checks, and stamped envelopes—all of which Jacinta transformed with layers of paint, ink, and found imagery.

Fritz Trams, born in Germany in 1906, eventually settled in Saugerties with his family post-immigration. The High Woods Sportsman’s Club is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting conservation efforts, safe firearm and archery usage, and nurturing youth's interest in these subject areas. Jacinta's upbringing involved exposure to sportsman’s clubs through her father and stepfather, both avid hunters in Northeastern Pennsylvania. This upbringing familiarized her with firearms from a young age. As a child, it was not uncommon for Jacinta to open a closet or garage and find a collection of guns. She learned how to shoot clay pigeons from her father’s back porch.

In an attempt to change the narrative of predominantly male and gun-centric spaces, Jacinta intentionally incorporates images of flowers and soft colors into this work. Both Fritz and Jacinta are outsiders-turned-longtime Hudson Valley residents. Jacinta's transition to the Hudson Valley led her to merge past and present selves, integrating art, activism, queerness, and a desire to end gun violence with her small town formative years. This work explores evolving eras, layers of personal identity, and diverse facets of life in the Hudson Valley. 

These works are documented on Instagram and are for sale. Contact Jacinta Bunnell for details. These works have been shown at Light House Style and Opus 40 in Saugerties, NY.

Fun-A-Day, February 2019 - Kitchenette, High Falls, NY

Fun-A-Day is an annual community creative project. Each person picks a project, does it every day for the month of January, and then comes together for a big art show in February. It's a terrific way to keep motivated in the darkest days of winter! Projects can be anything at all. People have done Song-A-Day, Haiku-A-Day, Scrabble-A-Day, Movie-Review-A-Day, Pie-A-Day. It began in Philadelphia by a group of artists and community organizers and has now spread around the world.

For Fun-A-Day 2019, Jacinta created a series of collages and drawings on black paper, all within a magic 5” gold circle. The 5” parameter allowed her to confine her practice to 10 minutes a day and still feel creative. Several of these works are still available. See Instagram for more. Contact Jacinta Bunnell to purchase.

Fun-A-Day is an annual community creative project. Each person picks a project, does it every day for the month of January, and then comes together for a big art show in February. It's a terrific way to keep motivated in the darkest days of winter! Projects can be anything at all. People have done Song-A-Day, Haiku-A-Day, Scrabble-A-Day, Movie-Review-A-Day, Pie-A-Day. It began in Philadelphia by a group of artists and community organizers and has now spread around the world.

Every day of January 2017, Jacinta committed to making a small piece of art. The only rules were that it had to be on a flashcard and had to incorporate a small piece of a map.

Farley's East, Oakland, CA 2016

Shire City Sanctuary, MA 2015

Anvil Gallery, Kingston, NY 2014

In response to the hyper-competitive art game, Cindy Hoose and Jacinta Bunnell played with their art to create the 52 pieces in your turn, dear, taking turns on each painting in a manner reminiscent of Exquisite Corpse. Their work directs our attention to the reasons we play games: to explore the world imaginatively, free of the hope for success or the fear of failure, and to connect with each other in the spirit of joy and sentimentality.

In taking turns painting, Hoose and Bunnell had to forego the solo artist’s executive authority, risking each move to the counterplay of the other player, and enter into the uncertainty of outcome essential to all games.  From firehouse bingo to Mah Jongg, games have functioned to educate, entertain, transmit tradition and facilitate human communion throughout history: your turn, dear celebrates this ongoing history and longs for a time and place where being social does not involve technology.

Hoose and Bunnell spent 52 weeks working with 52 vintage game boards-turned-canvases. In keeping with their commitment to make art from recycled materials, they scavenged yard sales and thrift stores for games and framing materials which became a series of paintings exploring the concept of play. Just as games can serve as a counterbalance to employment, where the worries of competition and promotion can dominate, the playful paintings in this show counteract the creeping contrivance of cultural art.

Many of these works are for sale. Contact Jacinta Bunnell for details.

KMOCA (Kingston Museum of Contemporary Arts), 2010

Inspired by the artwork of the children in her life, Hudson Valley artist Jacinta Bunnell presented a collection of mixed media paintings created over the course of one year. This show featured all new work, shown alongside the drawings of young artists that influenced her art.

Shy as a Shrimp is a series of mixed media paintings inspired by the artwork of children in my life.Over the course of one year I set out to paint pirates, monsters, cats, monster cats, airplanes, foxes and other fancy creatures.  Children often give me art as a way of marking the end of our days together or to express friendship. When I receive the gift of art made by a young person it is as big a gift as any to me.  I have included some of this artwork in the show and paired it with paintings of mine directly inspired by each drawing.

Children are amazing teachers.  They laugh easily, they tell you openly what they think of you, and they create art with exceptional depth and expression.  Children make art without trying to get paid or get famous.  They typically do not dwell on whether art is good or bad.  I found myself amazed each day I spent with their drawings.I gave myself exactly one year to complete these paintings and through my study I once and for all settled the argument about whether unicorns are real.  They are.  We have all met one at least once. 

Besides a nursery school scrapbook, I have only one piece of art that I created as a child. And I had no idea it existed until very recently. My grandmother had saved it since 1975 and gave it back to me when we were cleaning her house together a few years ago.  I included this drawing in my study as well.  Jumping into my own art, some thirty years later, proved to be a most surreal experience.  By doing so I found myself back at the kitchen table in Glenburn, Pennsylvania, the sights and sounds of my childhood home rushing back in.  While working with my nieces’ Keetin Cheung and Zia Lawrence’s drawings, I was swept back to the innumerable hours I spent with each of them drawing at the dining room table, catching up and laughing hard.  While studying the art of Storey Littleton and Max Cohen, I reflected deeply on my first sweet year as an assistant teacher at High Meadow School.

I am proud to share the gallery walls with each of these friends, all of them tightly embraced in my heart in their own unique way.  The following people served as my guides and mentors throughout this incredible journey:

 Cameron Vaughan

Daniel Gunther

Ella Ullman

Emma Sachi

Gideon Schwartz

Grace Martinez

India Sachi

Jasper Schwartz

Jenny Westlake

Joe Martinez

Keetin Cheung

Max Cohen

Olivia Wogan

Ruby Gunn

Silas Schwartz

Storey Littleton

Zia Lawrence

Thank you to them and to each of you.  My life is better for knowing you.

TeamLove Ravenhouse Gallery, 2013

Secret City, Woodstock 2016

These original drawings are a collaboration between Jacinta Bunnell and her step-father, Ed Antoine. Ed supplies Jacinta with daily score sheets from 13, a rummy card game brought back to their family in the 1970s from Jacinta’s maternal grandparents. The game was imported from Ocean Breeze Trailer Park, Shirley and Bill Browning’s retirement community in Jensen Beach, Florida. Jacinta adds color and pattern to Ed’s neatly crafted grid work tally sheets to create this artwork.

At the time of its incorporation, this 45-acre park was said to be the largest privately owned trailer park in the United States. This charming community where Shirley and Bill spent their winters represents a bygone era in Florida’s history, with it’s small cottages and trailers, community bath and laundry rooms, and an entire building devoted to neighborhood games. Much of the rest of Florida’s coasts have since been permeated with large mansions and condominiums. Dorothy Geeben was mayor of Ocean Breeze from 2001-11. When she was re-elected in 2004 at the age of 96, she was the oldest living mayor in the US. The residents of the town are among the few in the area who still receive mail delivered to their front doors instead of curbside.

Jacinta’s family continues to play 13 every day and have developed a tight community of friends who stop by for games every weekend.

Many of these works are for sale. Contact Jacinta Bunnell for details.

Rosendale Cafe, 2008

This show was an artistic duet. Jacinta Bunnell and Cindy Hoose collaborated closely, sharing themes, color schemes, content and materials. While each of their work was done separately in their own studios, close planning and communication led to an engaging mirroring of styles and ideas.

When Cindy and Jacinta come together, they can transform everyday materials into anything tangentially related to mythological creatures and baby animals, made up of found fabric scraps, lime green paint and vintage buttons. Each pair of paintings read like a carnival side show at Noah's ark.

A collection of mixed media paintings, collages, and drawings by Jacinta Bunnell. Working from a giant collection of found paper and ephemera gathered since she was a child, this collection represents many different styles of work completed in the last decade. Contact Jacinta Bunnell for availability and commissions.