Jennifer Agricola Mojica
Jennifer has been featured in both Create! Magazine and AQ. AQ is our series of hardcover catalogs celebrating extraordinary women artists. Available on Amazon. Visit the AQ Catalog Webpage to learn more.
Jennifer Agricola Mojica is a contemporary painter, educator, and mother based in San Antonio, Texas. Agricola Mojica’s work conveys shifting perspectives and figures, layers that conceal and reveal, monotonous repetition punctured by shapes, and suggestions of a fragmented time and space.
Agricola Mojica has exhibited nationally and internationally, including at the Royal Nebeker Art Gallery in Astoria, OR; Trisolini Gallery, Athens, Ohio; and the IF Gallery, Prague, Czech Republic. She has shown her work at numerous galleries in Texas, including the 1906 Gallery, Joan Grona Gallery, Sala Diaz, Dallas Center for Contemporary Art, and most recently with a solo exhibition at Dock Space Gallery.
Agricola Mojica has been featured in multiple publications, including Create! Magazine, New Visionary Magazine, Women United Art Magazine, and Art Seen. Her paintings can be found in private collections across the United States and Europe.
After earning her BFA in painting from Ohio University College of Fine Arts, Agricola Mojica went on to receive her MFA in sculpture from The University of Texas at San Antonio. Today, she splits her time between her studio practice and teaching at St Philip’s College.
Artist Statement
In my process, a painting begins with a disruptive start and ends with a harmonious stillness. Planes shift and shapes repeat, forms are portrayed from different vantage points, and figures become fragmented. The chaos then transforms into a calm, meditative process as I weave concepts and elements together.
As an inevitable part of my process, disorderly perceptions of time and space reflect my lived experiences. I revisit childhood memories and moments of disruption in my work, revealing an underlying personal narrative. Additionally, my role as a mother influences the content and composition of my paintings. As I navigate my life and the lives of my two children, I find myself in a place of constant learning permeated with challenges. These uncomfortable but beautiful experiences punctuate my compositional space. Houses, birds, and figures are frequent motifs that straddle the line between realism and abstraction.
I build up and tear down images. This process creates a dialogue between the creator, the artwork, and the viewer. The interconnected distortions and repetition of shapes draw the viewer into the imagery, contributing to the overall reflective mood of my paintings and—ultimately—challenging the viewer to pause, think, and contemplate the work.
www.jenniferagricolamojica.com
What inspired you to become an artist, and how did you decide to commit to this path?
From a young age, my mother has been a profound source of inspiration for me as an artist. Growing up, I was surrounded by a world rich in patterns, textures, and materials. My mother, who was deeply involved in sewing, painting, and rug hooking, transformed our home into a vibrant, creative environment. I have vivid memories of her dyeing fabrics in pots and then cutting them into strips for her intricate rug designs. These experiences deeply influenced my visual senses and nurtured my love for art.
My mother’s passion for folk art, with its emphasis on simplification and stylization, played a crucial role in shaping my artistic sensibilities. As I moved through high school and college, I explored various art forms—photography, graphic design, sculpture, printmaking, and painting. However, it was painting that truly resonated with me, offering a sense of flow and connection that I couldn’t find elsewhere.
Even when I took a step back from the studio to focus on my teaching career, painting remained the constant in my life, the anchor I always returned to. It’s more than just a passion; it’s a way of processing the world and expressing the influences that have shaped me from the very beginning.
Could you share the story or concept behind your recent work?
In recent years, my work has delved into the shifting nature of safety and security in an unpredictable world. I've been exploring the complex web of human connections, particularly how we navigate the tension between reality and fantasy. My current series takes this a step further, focusing on the vulnerability that exists within these realms.
I often incorporate motifs like houses, birds, and figures that exist in a space between realism and abstraction. These elements have become a kind of visual language for me, allowing me to explore deeply resonant themes such as grief, instability, and maternal instinct. Through these motifs, I aim to evoke a sense of both familiarity and unease, inviting the viewer to reflect on their own experiences within these transient spaces.
What was the most challenging part of your path so far? How are you navigating this obstacle?
The most challenging part of my journey has been learning to balance the roles of artist, mother, and educator. For many years, I put my studio practice on hold to fully commit to my teaching career. During that time, I poured everything I had into being the best instructor I could be, but in doing so, I sidelined my creative work. This led to a deep sense of self-doubt and imposter syndrome whenever I returned to the studio—I felt like I was standing in my own way.
Navigating this obstacle required me to give myself grace and actively seek balance. I had to grant myself permission to grow as an artist again, taking workshops and doing “homework” assignments that helped rebuild my skills and confidence. Slowly but surely, I found my flow again.
What I’ve come to realize is that nothing is more fulfilling than being in the studio. On days when I’m too tired or overwhelmed to fully dive in, I’ve discovered a little trick that works for me: I start by mixing colors. That simple act often leads to laying down paint and, before I know it, I’m back in the zone. It’s a process of reminding myself that even small steps can lead to big creative breakthroughs.
What role does experimentation and exploration play in your artistic practice?
Experimentation and exploration are integral to my artistic practice. My painting process often begins with a disorderly start that gradually evolves into a state of harmonious stillness. I usually start with an underpainting based on a master study, using that composition as an anchor. However, as I build up layers of figures, planes, and shapes, much of the original study becomes obscured, creating a dialogue between the past and the present.
At times, the underpainting makes an appearance, while other times it’s entirely concealed. I aim to create a sense of unity, bridging the gap between these two worlds—the old master’s and my own. In my work, I don’t seek to escape the chaotic surfaces that emerge; rather, I approach them with a commitment to finding a resolution. This process of exploration allows multiple layers of perception to reveal themselves in unexpected and deeply resonant ways. Tackling these challenges with experimentation and curiosity empowers me, enabling me to uncover the beauty within the chaos.
Do you have any start or stop rituals before creating?
Starting in the studio can be a challenge, so I make it a point to put away any distractions, like my To-Do list. I keep my painting gloves and apron right by the studio door. As soon as I walk in and put them on, it’s like flipping a switch—it signals that it’s time to paint.
What message do you hope your art conveys to the world?
Through my creative process, which involves a constant dialogue between creation and deconstruction, I aim to invite viewers into a space of reflection. I hope my work encourages them to engage with interconnected distortions and repetitions, drawing them into a contemplative experience. My goal is to offer a sense of solace amidst the chaos, providing a quiet space for introspection.
Share a mantra or favorite quote that keeps you going.
In painting—be rude, be bold, be scary.
What initially sparked your interest in art?
My childhood was filled with creative opportunities. My earliest memory is of my mother’s sewing corner, filled with textiles, buttons, and patterns by her sewing machine. She sewed our clothes and quilts. She was a self-taught interior designer, shopping at antique stores, putting up wallpaper in the rooms, ripping up carpets, and adorning the walls with her art constructions. She would guide us through art projects like papier-mâché puppets, and she sent us to art camps at the local art museum. The creativity, exploration, and discovery really ignited my curiosity and wonder. In high school, that sense of discovery and play was nurtured in art classes. I had a very encouraging art teacher, Shelly Brauer, who taught me—among other things—photography and the darkroom. She gave me so much freedom to experiment, and as I watched the images appear on the film, I knew I wanted to go to art school.
What connects your work together and what keeps you creating?
I build a painting based on revealing and concealing. The paintings I have been making recently are a visual representation of how I think. I begin in one area and progressively build out. Then, forms and spaces are covered and buried. As the surface is constructed, shapes are concealed and then revealed. The composition becomes an architectural dig. Pre-existing layers are sometimes visible when one sees the process; other areas are obliterated.
Unabated layering helps me to move through, find, and explore ideas that could never happen if I worked linearly. It is like going out for a drive in the country without a road map. I get lost, but I discover so much more.
Describe your work using three words.
Palimpsest, fragmenting, and layering space and time—it is the way I process information.
What are you most proud of as an artist, whether it's a specific moment or who you are as an artist?
Since 2020, I have gained strong insight into my painting practice. I have learned so much about myself as an artist and mother, and how those roles influence my work.
The most recent body of work is a visual diagram of how I think and process information. Experiencing time and space is full of interruptions, chaotic shifts, and disorderly or awkward moments. As a mother raising two kids, I have learned to pivot, be flexible, and be alright with not always having the answers. My paintings reflect these moments. Nothing goes as planned. In my paintings, the surfaces are never planned but rather constructed with shapes, figures, or forms. I start with a section of an artwork from history that triggers a feeling; other times, I see a mundane object, a dying plant, or a photograph that sparks a memory or references time.
Recently, I worked on a series called Feathers. It was shortly after the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas, that I dropped my fourth-grade daughter off at school, holding back a lot of emotions. Later that day, on the college campus where I teach, I deconstructed my students' Vanitas still-life, pulling aside one of the props—a black crow. I used it for a small painting demo and then became fixated on the crow for several paintings. The crow became a powerful image for me.
In all my paintings, forms, figures, and objects are covered, buried, or obliterated. The crow gets lost under layers or fragmented by other planes. Figures are added and then taken away, landscapes are added in and then covered up. Dissolving spaces, and stacking shapes, objects, and planes helps me to move through, find, and explore ideas that could never happen if I worked linearly.
If you could be in a two-person exhibition with any artist from history, who would it be and why?
There are so many artists that come to mind. But today, I would love to have a show with Joan Mitchell and Nathan Oliveira. I deeply admire both these artists for their evocative gestural marks, their strong convictions of paint, observation, and reflection, and the slow read of their compositions. I could pour over their paintings for hours. They provide me with a space to meditate, breathe, pause, reflect, and discover.
