Jenna Tomalka
Jenna Tomalka grew up in Michigan and has always been partial to the lakes and woods of the western part of our state.
Jenna was academically trained at the University of Michigan in sociology and urban planning, worked in Battle Creek and across the country in neighborhood revitalization, and for the Department of Defense as an IT Program Manager. But she has used just about all her free time since about 2008 to learn glass fusing, beading, lampwork glass, metal smithing, and lapidary arts.
Now she has rebranded her jewelry design business to Jenna Tomalka Glass Stone Metal since that captures all the media Jenna enjoys working with-- in jewelry, adornment, and household decoration.
When she is not making, she enjoys traveling with her husband and mother, and is looking forward to retirement in December, when she can turn her attention to making full-time!
About Me
Artwork
Photo credit: Jamie Feldman
Some of the most fun I ever had as a kid was jumping in the giant waves in Lake Michigan on yellow or red flag days. Oh, I know my brother and I shouldn’t have been in the water on those big water days, but jumping over the cool waves, the force they met me with, the soft sand we landed on, just the thrill of it, our faces and noses and mouths full of water---- we couldn’t resist! We loved every laughing, jumping, and shrieking moment of it!
In my art piece, I wanted to reproduce the joy of those waves, the movement and colors and sounds of them coming toward us and our giddiness at all this great play in the lungs of our earth. See, the algae stromatolites that lived in this once warm sea millions of years ago, took in the atmospheric nitrogen and other poisonous gases deadly to most life on earth today and pumped out the oxygen compatible with our life now.
Artist Statement
I also wanted the piece to make sounds—the happy tinkling sounds of smiles and giggles, but also serve as an alarm, to remind us that not too long ago our lakes and rivers were much more polluted than they are now. So much more polluted than the Rouge River in Detroit and the Cuyahoga River in Ohio actually caught on fire in 1969! But through Federal legislation like Nixon’s Clean Air Act in 1970 and Clean Water Act in 1972, Reagan’s Superfund Act in 1980, and from 1990-1995 the Polluter Pay Act in Michigan, our waterways became so much cleaner, most are now available for swimming and fishing, and if not, there is a plan to rectify. From 2016-2019, 125 of those acts’ regulations (regulations are the government’s rules on how it will implement the laws) were rolled back, leaving many lakes and waterways less protected.
So… it’s time to celebrate our water, and sound the alarm! Let’s watch the news together for mentions of our lakes and waterways, of clean energy solutions, of groundwater contamination, and work for robust regulation protecting our waterways once again. Hero! When we go to the beach or kayaking or fishing in rivers or streams, we can pick up a bag or two of trash and dispose of it properly. Total hero action! And finally, remember to use reusable water bottles rather than single-use bottles from the store! Be a Water Hero!
Photo credit: Jamie Feldman
