My names are Jenny Stanjeski, Dorothy Darker, and Jenny Jeski.
I am a painter and performance artist, fabricator, and arts educator
I have been working in the theater and fine art since I was a teenager. I’ve built a rewarding career collaborating with designers, directors, and architects across many disciplines for many of New York’s most famous stages. I also enjoy doing select interior painting and faux finishing and collaborating with fine artists to solve material challenges.
I started painting in my teens, while immersing myself in New Jersey community theater.
After studying Theatrical Design and Production at the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama, I moved back to New York and pursued a career as a scenic artist and design assistant. When I moved from freelance to full time fabrication in a shop, I went back to class to continue to learn historical painting methods and refine my own practices at Art Students League of New York, New York Academy of Art, Spring Street Studios, and other beloved institutions - along with finding mentors among my peers.
While working Off Broadway, I started teaching workshops, and leading students in the scenic arts at universities including Columbia, Barnard, and Fordham.
I joined United Scenic Artists union local 829, and immediately took the job of Scenic Charge Artist for Manhattan Theater Club’s shop, and it’s three theaters. When that shop closed, I moved to Showman Fabricators as Scenic Second, and eventually becoming their Scenic Charge Artist, bidding, planning, and managing the painting of sets for Broadway, Fashion, TV, Museums, and Theme Parks.
In 2013 I achieved my dream of joining the staff at The Juilliard School as Scenic Charge Artist and leading their scenic art apprenticeship. In 2014 Rachel Keebler invited me to be a visiting instructor at Cobalt Studios, where I teach students specifically about hard scenery and floors, shop work vs. site work, and self care.
I delight in also doing select interiors for trusted designers and architects and continue to work for Broadway, doing art reproduction, advising on historical painting practices and props, and creating original works for use on stage when an opportunity aligns.
Please reach out at jennysaddress@gmail.com if you’d like to collaborate.