Penny Young

In my work I examine systems such as library catalogues, and their progressions away from physical paper. Much of this paper exists as a chaotic storm that settles as landfill once the system has died. It is our belief and use of these systems, and our sudden shifts in technology that creates enormous waste. Library cards are but one of many such systems. Office equipment suffers a similar critically important, yet short life span, machinery is outmoded and often discarded in full working order. Many of my earliest toys were office supplies; rubber stamps, staplers, out of date calendars I would reuse as notebooks. Office paraphernalia, library cards and ledgers, often-handled objects and evidence marks of the human touch in frayed edg

Penny Young is a sculptor, poet and arts educator. Her practice includes paper and ceramic sculpture, installation, drawing and kinetic works. Ms. Young graduated from the University of California Santa Barbara, and received her M.F.A. from California State University Northridge.

Penny has been an artist-in-residence at Mt. St. Mary?s College in Santa Monica, California and at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena, California. She was the Chairman of the Art in Public Places Committee for the City of Burbank, and consulted on set as an artist and prop-maker for Hungry Man Productions and the HBO Series Six Feet Under.

She has taught at California State University Long Beach and Northridge, the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts and Inner-City Arts in downtown Los Angeles. At Wonderland Avenue Elementary, Penny worked as a Coordinator for parent volunteers teaching art. Penny currently lives and works in the Los Angeles area creating large-scale paper mache objects, ink drawings and writing poetry.