The Healdsburg Arts Festival is back again this year, pared down to one busy day in the Plaza. Starting Saturday morning at 10am until 7pm, more than 40 artists will sell their personal and unique artwork of every description—from watercolors, oils and acrylics to photography, ceramics, woodwork, jewelry, printmaking, textile arts, sculpture, metalwork and glass work.
Among the familiar artists will be Jennifer Utsch, a.k.a. Jendala. Though the name started as a play on Jen and mandala, like the signature metal chimes she has made her creative outlet, Utsch has morphed Jendala into a magic land of possibilities and optimism.
A large poster in her Moore Street studio proclaims the Land of Jendala, where people believe in diversity, with an image of cats and dogs on a park bench, peacefully coexisting.
Jendala’s signature artwork—colorful metal charms alternating between symbols and words, affirmations and aspirations—now hang from many Healdsburg porches, eaves and indoor private spaces. They are more than “chimes,” though they all have small brass bells, because “sound creates space,” as she says.
“Each color represents a different vibration or emotion,” says the 55-year-old artist. It’s the sort of statement that the skeptic might find absurd; but upon reflection, and with ears to hear, it makes perfect sense.
The dangling charms use keywords, like Smile … Relax … No Worries … Friends … Respect … Love … Woof and Magic. There seems to be no limit to how a single word or a pair of them can create a positive vibe, if they are infused with the positive attitude that is ultimately the definition of Jendala.
Jendala’s Journey
A former deputy sheriff in Utah, firefighter in Arizona, Spanish teacher and life-long artist, Jennifer Utsch first came to Healdsburg in 1999, and over the past quarter-century her bright, creative spirit has found a home in Healdsburg. The City Council even recognized her in August with an official Proclamation, expressing “its sincere appreciation, thanks, and gratitude to Jennifer ‘Jendala’ Utsch for sharing her creativity, positivity, and passion for life, and helping to make Healdsburg a better place.”
She’s a regular at the Farmers’ Markets, both Saturdays and Tuesdays, when they are running, as well as other art festivals in Northern California, Washington, Oregon and Arizona.
For the past few months, Jendala has made it known she’s moving to Tucson, which has a thriving artist community, but she’s adamant she’s not giving up on Healdsburg. “I’ve always been a traveling artist,” she said, as if it’s a line on her business card. But she’s found it impossible to find a place to live in the area that meets her requirements for being in touch with nature—and affordability.
She has found such a place in Tucson, where she lived previously and has many friends (which is not hard to believe). Several weeks ago she packed up most of her workshop in a trailer and headed to Tucson, accompanied by fellow cancer-survivor Mark Themig, the city’s community services director.
By all accounts the journey was epic, with a 4am flat tire near Firebaugh, California, among the highlights. “Only Jendala could turn a 14-hour trip into a 36-hour adventure,” Themig said.
“Not only did we have challenges, we also met new friends along the way,” he said—including Maria, the owner of the hardware store who had the only U-Haul available in a 100-mile radius, and who turned out to be, of all things, a metal artist.
Jendala has been afflicted with ovarian cancer for the past five years, and undergone multiple treatments that have yet to end. But her hair (and eyebrows) are back, and somehow the travails did not fully stymy her remarkable energy or creativity. Just as during Covid, the children’s Sparkle Time program wasn’t canceled, but moved online, so she hopes to keep Heartizens alive and thriving even though she’ll only be in Healdsburg part time.
Heartizens
If her charms are the tangible expression of Jendala’s spirit, Heartizens is the community center of her work. She declares she’s not leaving Healdsburg wholly behind, and hopes one particular project of hers will continue to thrive even though she won’t be here to see it through on a daily basis.
Her studio at 444 Moore Lane will become a full-time home for Heartizens, which started as an after-school program five years ago. Heartizens is an art-and-learning nonprofit, most widely known for its Sparkle Time afterschool program for elementary-age kids.
Children come in after school to mix, play and learn with others. Perhaps they’ve not had a good day, but Jendala’s method is to welcome them in, talk about school, and have a “huddle in a puddle” where they do physical and other exercises to help with their emotional balance.
“It’s OK to have emotions, but you don’t want to stay in that space if it doesn’t feel good,” she said. Art projects follow to help work through confusing emotions. The kids can create their own role model or “avatar,” a representation who they want to be.
But despite endless hours of effort by Jendala to reach both English- and Spanish-speaking families, this year the Heartizens programs are not running. Support from the schools has fallen short, and she’s actively seeking donations (heartizens.org/sparkle-time).
“When I post something about my health, it goes viral. When it’s about Heartizens …” She shrugged to express her frustration.
“Without more funding, the space and programs I’ve worked so hard to build over the past decade—especially our summer camps for kids—will have to close. Once we have classes, only seven full classes a week will sustain us,” Jendala said. “It’s right at our fingertips.”
Even with her move to Tucson as her primary residence, Jendala hopes Heartizens can become a year-round creative space for children and adults. She believes it will start with the new school year.
Affirmations
Parents of the children who have been involved with Sparkle Time in the past take little prompting to become enthusiastic. Dianna Badalament, herself an artisan goldsmith, said her daughter Selene has been a participant for years.
“We were around early on as Heartizens blossomed at her Moore Lane studio, and it was perfect for my daughter’s exploration into art, and actually, music,” wrote Badalament. “I feel like it expanded her art competency, and had some team building; all things great for growth and development.”
James and Elizabeth Gore’s two children, Opal and Jacob, also have attended the programs. “Heartizens opened our kids’ eyes and hearts,” wrote their father. “The program focused on bringing out their own inner creativity rather than training them. This is the best of the best here locally.”
Jendala used to hand-torch all her work, but now the signs are laser cut which frees her up to circulate through arts fairs with her “jingle truck”—a reconditioned hot dog wagon, now outfitted with an electric bike wheel in front and redesigned to resemble a farm truck.
Attendees to this Saturday’s Healdsburg Arts Festival are sure to find Jendala there, sparkling wherever she is, with her dangling, ringing affirmations. Perhaps some Heartizens graduates will be there too, to parade around the plaza and spread the sparkle that is Jendala.
The annual Healdsburg Arts Festival will take place Saturday, Sept. 28, starting at 10am, with 40 artists, entertainment, food, drink and kids’ play areas. It is co-produced by the City of Healdsburg and the Healdsburg Center for the Arts.
Jennifer Utsch is a wonderful person. Her moving to Tucson is Healdsburg’s loss. I keep hearing about our tax money going to “affordable housing” and “housing the homeless,” yet the artists are all slowly leaving Healdsburg.
The City Council facilitates the businesses downtown with parklets and who knows what else. Meanwhile, the soul of our town slowly moves away, either to other towns or the cemetery.