Campus Directory

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Division Arts Division

Department/College/Unit Art Department

Title Professor
Founding Director of UCSC OpenLab

Affiliation Faculty

Other UCSC Campus Affiliation Center for Coastal Climate Resilience (CCCR)
Astronomy & Astrophysics Department
Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems
Genomics Institute
IMS-Seymour Marine Discovery Center

Areas of Expertise Art
Digital Arts

Web Site

Primary Office Location Elena Baskin Building E
E106

Additional Location(s) Digital Arts Research Center Faculty Studio

Office Hours for Students/ Office Hours By appointment, email to arrange a time

Mail Stop Art Department

Biography, Education and Training

Parker received a B.A in art from the University of California Santa Barbara in 1990, attended The Skowhegan School Painting and Sculpture in Maine, and received her M.F.A. in Sculpture from Rutgers University in 1992. Professor Parker has been part of the faculty at the University of California Santa Cruz since 1999.

Summary of Expertise

Jennifer Parker is a Professor and founding Director of the OpenLab Collaborative Research Center at the University of California, Santa Cruz. As a media artist, Parker’s work explores the intersection of biology, technology, art, and ecology. Through multi-sensory and transdisciplinary collaborations, she combines scientific inquiry with creative practices to uncover the sensorial worlds around us. Her innovative projects challenge conventional boundaries, fostering dialogues that inspire imagination and environmental awareness.

As an educator, Parker creates transformative learning environments where disciplines converge and curiosity drives exploration. Her teaching integrates lab experiments, studio practices, and collaborative discussions to inspire inquiry that evolves into exhibitions, installations, and scholarly publications. She prioritizes collaboration and encourages students to embrace boundary-pushing approaches to creative research and environmental advocacy.

Parker served as department chair from 2012-2017 and was principal faculty for the Digital Arts & New Media (DANM) MFA program from 2008-2018, where she led the Mechatronics collaborative research cohort to develop OpenLab projects that combined art, design, science, and technology. Currently, she teaches in the Environmental Art and Social Practice MFA program, continuing her commitment to transdisciplinary exploration.

Parker also contributes to the Center for Coastal Climate Resilience, where she engages with questions at the intersection of technology, creativity, and critical thought. Through practice-based research and critical reflection within the experimental humanities, she investigates how ecosystems reshape artistic practices and our understanding of sensory interaction, agency, and collaboration.

Jennifer Parker is a distinguished artist and researcher. Her artwork has been exhibited extensively, with solo and group shows in galleries and museums in the United States, Europe, and Asia. She has received numerous notable grants, awards, and fellowships with colleagues, including the American Psychoanalytic Foundation Award, Art Matters, Artworks NEA, CITRIS Innovation Award & SEED grant, Epsilon/Alliance Environmental Art and Education, the Kate Neal Kinley Memorial Fellowship Award, the New Forms Regional Grant from the NEA’s Inter-Arts Program, the New Jersey State Council of the Arts, and UC Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives (MRPI) planning and implementations grants.

Teaching Interests

Interactive Art & Design, Art/Science, BioArt & Design, Sound Art, and AI

Selected Exhibitions

Jennifer Parker is a distinguished artist and researcher. Her artwork has been exhibited extensively, with solo and group shows in galleries and museums across the United States, Europe, and Asia. She has received numerous notable grants, awards, and fellowships with colleagues, including the American Psychoanalytic Foundation Award, Art Matters, Artworks NEA, CITRIS Innovation Award, SEED grants, Epsilon/Alliance Environmental Art and Education, the Kate Neal Kinley Memorial Fellowship Award, the New Forms Regional Grant from the NEA’s Inter-Arts Program, the New Jersey State Council of the Arts, NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates, and UC Multicampus Research Programs and Initiatives (MRPI) planning and implementations grants.

Selected Publications

Select Articles/Book Chapter:

Parker, J. Foraging Microbacteria in Space, Genomic Gastronomy, Space Seeds: Food Phreaking issue 4/12, ISSN 2372-6502 (Nov 2023) 

The Algae Society BioArt Design Lab: Exploring multispecies entanglements and making kin with algae, Leonardo Magazine, MIT Press, Volume 55, Issue 4 August print issue, includes magazine cover. Digital version available earlier * (Mar 2022)

Science and Collectivism in Artistic Creation: Embracing Climate Change through Art 

The International Journal of the Arts in Society: Annual Review. Volume 14, Issue 1:12-20, (2020)

Species Loss: Exploring Opportunities with Art–Science 
Integrative and Comparative Biology, Volume 58, Issue 1 (July 2018)

Making Sense of Sensors
Digital Culture & Society (DCS),Vol. 3, Issue 1/2017 Published Online: 2017-06-27  (Jun 2017) 

Slow FAST Forward: Enacting Digital Art and Civic Opportunities Book Chapter by J. Parker
Book: Artistic Citizenship: Artistry, Social Responsibility, and Ethical Praxis (2016)

Steps to an Ecology of Networked Knowledge and Innovation: Enabling New Forms of Collaboration among Sciences, Engineering, Arts, and Design 
LEONARDO, MIT Press Journals (2015)