I have Questions

More often than not, my art begins with a question.

I’m usually trying to understand something, explore an idea, or make sense of an experience through the act of creating. The finished piece is rarely an answer. It’s part of the investigation.

So instead of giving these works titles that might steer you toward my interpretation, I’ve chosen to offer questions instead.

If one catches your attention, I invite you to sit with it for a moment. And if you’re feeling adventurous, I’d love for you to share your thoughts with me at JP@jodyparmann.art

Watching someone discover something true about themselves in real time feels a little like witnessing magic.

This collection will be on display at Exquisite Corpse Coffee House through the end of June. Prices for original works are listed below, and select pieces will also be available as prints for purchase at the café.

What are you growing that you may never live to see fully bloom?
Dandelion Matriarchy $2000

Can a place become part of your identity?
Port Huron Sesquicentennial $3000

What are your children learning from the way you treat yourself?
Love Trickles Down Mama $2000

How do you balance wonder and responsibility?
Mother Nature $3000

What do you do when the world keeps undoing the work of your love?
A Mother’s Love $3000

What do you do with love that no longer has a place to land?
Ghosted $200

Can regret become gratitude if viewed from far enough away?
Dance With Me $3000

What parts of your story do you wear as your identity?
Paper Poe $5000

What part of yourself only appears when you’re under pressure?
Bound $300

How many versions of yourself exist in other people’s memories?
Refracted $200

What parts of yourself must remain wild in order to nurture others?
Sustenance $300

What part of love survives after everything else is stripped away?
Modona & Child $4000

If you could leave one burden here and walk away lighter, what would it be?
Baggage $200

Which creature best reflects the way you move through the world?
Birds $600

What parts of yourself have you unraveled trying to keep someone else whole?
Never Enough $200

What experiences taught you to look away instead of lean in?
Curtains $500

Who notices when the well runs dry?
Well Woman $500

Feminine Rage

“Feminine Rage” is an interactive piece that demands not only to be seen, but to be confronted. Viewers are invited to peer into the open, screaming maw of a woman frozen in a moment of fury. But this is not theatrical anger. This is the rage born of being dismissed, diminished, and denied.

Inside her throat, you will find words—things men say to women that ignite a quiet, daily fury. These phrases will change regularly, reflecting the persistent drip of patronization, erasure, and entitlement that so many women endure. You are invited—no, challenged—to return, to read, to listen.

This work is not subtle. It is a mirror, a megaphone, a mouthful of truth. My hope is that brave souls, especially men, will reengage often, sit with the discomfort, and begin to unlearn the habits and phrases that keep women small. This is not just a scream. It is a call to awareness, to empathy, and to change.

Feminine Rage is a mixed media piece that engages the senses. It is constructed from raw OSB plywood, a material chosen for its coarse, unfinished texture and structural honesty.

Quay Street & Huron Ave. in Downtown Port Huron, Michigan
Dear men: Telling women to smile isn’t a compliment—it’s control wrapped in a bow. We weren’t put here to be pretty for you.
Telling a woman this isn’t flattering—it’s a putdown dressed as praise. It tells us you didn’t expect us to be capable, and that our gender is a limitation we somehow overcame. Just say we’re good. Period.
Saying this isn’t a compliment—it’s a quiet dig at women as a whole. It frames individuality as separation, not strength. But the women I know? They’re powerful, radiant, and real. I aspire to be like them.
This tells women their emotions are too much—and always have been. This phrase is rooted in a painful history. Women were once labeled hysterical, institutionalized, even lobotomized. (Rosemary Kennedy was lobotomized at 23—in 1941.)
He said I’d be prettier with long hair. I’ve heard that before—from someone who tried to control me. I don’t style myself for men. I cut my hair for me. So let me and all women look how they want. Love us as we are—or leave us alone.
If you’re trying to share knowledge, make sure it’s invited and delivered with respect. This—“Sweetheart, that’s not how it works”—is exactly how the term mansplaining was born.

Don’t.
As if being in a relationship is the default and beauty is a ticket to partnership. Women stay single for all kinds of reasons: peace, freedom, healing, standards, or simply because they want to. None of which require public commentary—or permission.
Sounds harmless—but it’s not. It’s gaslighting in four words. What we call women’s intuition is learned survival.
We notice shifts. We feel danger. We speak up. And too often, we’re told we’re overreacting—
until we’re proven right. Trust her gut.
It’s not magic. It’s intelligence.
And it deserves to be heard.
Sounds sweet—but it’s not. It’s dismissal dressed as care.
A compliment that shrinks. It says beauty means fragility. That women don’t belong in hard conversations. Let us think. Let us speak. Let us lead.
Our heads aren’t just pretty. They’re powerful.
I heard that growing up—from women I loved. It sounded like protection. But it was shame. A lesson passed down: Your body is a bargaining chip. Your worth depends on withholding it. That’s not wisdom.
That’s patriarchy, dressed as concern. So when women shame other women, ask—Who gave them the script?
This idea that the clothes women choose to wear directly correlate with how much male attention we “deserve” is rooted in misogyny and completely disgusting. It commodifies women’s bodies as if they are offerings, objects meant to please, invite, or provoke. They’re not.
We’ve all heard it. Maybe even laughed at it. But look closer. This isn’t just a joke—it’s a script. A script designed to shame emotion, mock femininity, and silence reaction.
Say it to a woman, and it reduces her feelings to something laughable. Say it to a man, and it uses femininity as an insult. Either way, it teaches the same lesson: Don’t feel too much. Don’t speak too loudly. Don’t make anyone uncomfortable.
That’s the PG-13 version of what a man said to a lesbian friend of mine. His message? Her identity wasn’t real—just waiting to be “fixed.” As a straight woman, I haven’t lived that. But hearing it said to someone I love made my stomach turn. You are not a wizard, sir. And that is not a wand in your pants. Someone’s identity is not a debate. Not a challenge. Not a conquest. Can you imagine if the reverse were said to you?

Exactly.
It sounds kind. But it can cut deep. Some women can’t have children. Some don’t want them. And none of it is your business. Women are whole—with or without children.
So please—don’t ask. Don’t assume.

Secret Keeper Dolls

“Eve”
The Mercurial
As a little girl of the 80s, I desperately wanted a Cabbage Patch Doll during the height of their popularity. However, they were impossible to find, and my mom couldn’t afford one. So, she and my aunts decided to track down knock-off kits. They gathered together and stuffed and sewed them for me and my cousins. I wasn’t thrilled with the doll because the noses looked strangely different, and they lacked the butt signature that all my friends’ dolls had. They would pull down the diapers to prove their dolls’ authenticity. Looking back, I realize I might not have been grateful then, but I am now. Knowing my mom’s efforts reveals the depth of her love for me.

It’s taken two years to create these dolls. Ever since I was young, I’ve had a deep love for dolls. I think my mom might have had an inkling of this when she dressed me as Raggedy Ann one Halloween. Coming from a family with limited means, I would eagerly read the American Girl doll magazine, dreaming of owning one. My desire was so strong that I once wrote to the magazine, sharing my admiration and secretly hoping they might gift me a doll. They replied kindly, but I never received a doll. Now, I find myself drawn to buying dolls, aiming to restore and reawaken their charm.

The Secret Keeper dolls represent a period in my life filled with confusion and heartache and previous painful relationships have influenced me to keep to myself when I’m hurting, rather than seeking comfort from others. I have wonderful friends who I know would support me, but I hesitate to reach out to them, knowing they have their own struggles. I don’t want to add to their burdens. So, I turn my sadness and frustration into my art, a quiet way of shedding my pain. It’s a form of expression that people can connect with if they choose, depending on their own emotional state.

“Pip“
The Penniless
“Mitty”
The Dreamer
“Clarissa”
The Chronically Ill
“Juliet”
The Romantic
“Ophelia”
The Submerged
“Hester“
The Hidden
“Lenox”
The Grounded
“Lolly”
The Pleaser
“Pandora”
The Curious
“Marmee”
The Nurturer

Pottery Pleasure: The Chaos of the Clay

BEFORE LAST FIRE: My lopsided tea set was my first attempt at throwing in many years. It is clunky and heavy but my daughter will like it 🙂

I was chatting with a couple of artists in the pottery studio last night and we were all fan-girling about pottery and why we love the process.

1. Wet clay – smoosh, bend, spin, squeeze, pull , poke, roll, seal and smooth… the tactile sensations are positively therapeutic. 

2. Drying time – will it crack? Warp? What will be, will be, so let’s start something new while we wait. With clay you make while you wait, so there’s always something to do and something to look forward to! 

3. Leatherhard – scratch, smooth, sand… it’s all about surface quality. 

4. Bisque – First foray into the fires of hell… j/k, well kind of. Your baby is in there hopefully baking to perfection, but it could explode… or the thing next to it might and break yours along with it. It feels like gambling (in the best way possible). 

5. Glaze – Whether you dip or paint it on, glaze is it’s own kind of magic. Many kinds paint on one color and then when glazed comes out completely different. Depending on your surface the dimensions of glaze will lay differently because it’s essentially liquid glass.

5. Glaze Fire – Once again your baby goes into the kiln and now you’ve invested a lot of time and energy into it. This time the stakes are even higher. 

6. While you wait, and working on other things you wonder how your piece is fairing in the last fire. You tried something new – are you a genius? Will the glaze run down the surface just right? Will it be exquisite?

7. The moment of truth – You see your piece transformed by glaze and depending on the results your feelings range from elated, surprised or “hmm, it happened like that?”

8. You learn – You begin to plan for the next piece waiting in the wings. 

The moral of the story is that you’re always learning, experimenting and looking forward to something. 

The process makes me feel magical, like I’m working a spell. I love it.

AFTER FINAL FIRE: The blue rutile is just stunning.

Working in 3-Dimensional Mediums

I like dolls. I’ve always liked them. When I was a little girl I mothered them. Now that I am an adult I mother my children, but I’m still fascinated with dolls. I like to draw them, sew them, cast them, sculpt them, etc.

I like the idea of creating a vessel that holds a spirit, or if you’re not magically inclined – a persona.

I taught myself how to cast in plaster (ahem, thank you YouTube) and started doing the “Mandrake Babies” in November of 2022. When you cast you have to think in terms of mountains and crevices. You can’t have any steep angles or your mold won’t turn out. This learning curve helped me when I started experimenting with 3D printing, because there are similar limitations.

I find it novel that something as old school as plaster casts could help me with designing in CAD – a very modern technology.

The most basic way I can explain what I think the definition of art is (imo) is that it’s about making connections, whether it be ideas or techniques. It’s having a flexible enough brain to bend them around each other and come up with something new or push a type of art further than before.

Boot Prototype II