Marn Jensen

Box and Wax and Things

April 3 - May 29, 2026

Front Gallery

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Box and Wax and Things

 

I love old boxes — the more worn and weathered the better.

Their beautiful patina, the dovetail corners,

the homemade locks, the initials scratched on the sides… goosebump worthy.

 

Sometimes they hold things, sometimes they hide things.

Sometimes they’re open, sometimes they’re closed.  

Sometimes they’re heavy, sometimes they’re light.

In them we stuff our collections, our worries, our receipts. 

  

These boxes once held coins and handkerchiefs and pencils and meat,

bottles and spools and cheese and screws,

cigars and gloves and needles and paints…

so many things, so many stories.

 

Now, carefully transformed into assemblages, they still carry the stories they once held. 

And hopefully some new ones, too.

 

—Marn
 

Bio

 

Marn comes from a family of artists, where creativity was a big part of the Jensen household. 

After graduating from the University of Kansas, she began her career at Hallmark Cards,

where she spent 35 years in various roles within the Creative Division. 

 

During her tenure at Hallmark, she was awarded the Barbara Marshall Award, which supports creatives in pursuing passion projects. Alongside longtime friend and coworker, Andy Newcom, she co-created Art of the Wish, a large body of work based on interviews with elders from across the country. The show debuted here at the Leedy Voulkos Art Center in 2022. 

Currently, the exhibition is touring nationally through Exhibits USA and MidAmerica Arts Alliance. 

 

Marn works out of her studio in Kansas City’s Crossroads Arts District and has had several solo shows in K.C. the past fifteen years. Her work is primarily assemblage —  exploring both two-dimensional and three-dimensional forms.  Through layering, texture and time worn materials, Marn creates pieces that speak to memory, history and quiet stories woven into everyday objects.