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ATLANTIC OCEAN – Art is everywhere. It’s an expression of what it is to be human. So, where there are people, there is art. It’s so ubiquitous in populous locations like cities, in fact, that it’s often taken for granted, with pedestrians hurrying past magnificent works without a glance. Great art is not quite so easy to miss on an aircraft carrier. Amongst the crashing waves and colorful sunsets, there is no lack of beauty at sea, but the manmade kind is in relative short supply. That’s why when a towering billboard-sized mural appeared on one of the hangar bay doors aboard the world’s largest aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), it did not go unnoticed.
The colorful mural commemorates a monumental achievement, the winning of the 2023 Rear Adm. James “Jig Dog” Ramage Award by the Ford and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 8 for carrier/air wing operational excellence. The mural features the mascots of the ship and each of the squadrons attached to the air wing changing forward, carrying a victory flag.
The creative vision and remarkable talent behind the piece were those of a young Aviation Electronics Technician 3rd Class assigned to the “Grey Wolves” of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 142. Armed with her I-Pad and stylus, Gabrielle Jensen has literally made her mark on the strike group and air wing, drawing several pieces for patches, stickers, and logos. She was even asked to design the cover art for an issue of Ford’s paper, The Wolverine Daily Digest, when the ship transited the Bermuda Triangle on its return from its historic maiden deployment in January.
Despite her extraordinary artistic abilities, Jensen spends her days maintaining $70 million EA-18G Growler jets for the Navy and her squadron.
“AT wasn’t my first pick for a rate, but I wasn’t in the window for being an MC and it just didn’t work out. As much I would love to be in that job, the Navy currently won’t let me move to another rate due to our manning.”
The daughter of a Navy Electronics Technician, and a nanny, Jensen was born in the United Kingdom and moved to Bahrain (where her Father was stationed) and finally to the United States to begin her art education at the University of Central Florida.
“Right after graduating from high school, my father gave me the option to study in the United States or the United Kingdom. After some thought, I pursued creative writing at the University of Central Florida,” Jensen explained. “My goal was to get a degree in art.”
Once classes began, it was clear her professors and fellow students thought little of her talent. It wasn’t long before the criticism had her questioning her abilities and the feasibility of her dream.
“I remember the final straw for me with that class was a homework assignment where we had to draw skeletons from memory, blindfolded,” Jensen recalled. “The next day, we came in and put our drawings on the easels and ranked them in order. Every one of the 49 people in the class said I was the worst artist in that class. Halfway through the critiques I stormed out of the class and changed my major to English.”
In spite of the negative feedback and sudden change of major, she worked diligently to teach herself art on her own time while learning creative writing in school.
“Growing up, I was always a really big fan of Dungeons and Dragons and I had always wanted to see the scenes and characters of my imagination come to life. In 2016, I started drawing on my own time,” said Jensen. “My work was really bad at first. I started drawing stick men and basic figures, but after a few months I started publishing art online and got some positive response. I eventually received commissions from people who wanted their own characters drawn out.”
Although she had begun making the progress she was after, the unexpected emergence of and fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic inspired her to offer her services to the United States Navy.
“I was originally going to work in the civilian sector in copywriting or journalism, but COVID got in the way of that,” said Jensen. “The Navy had always been my fallback plan and I ended up enlisting as an AT. I had originally wanted to be a Mass Communication Specialist, but the rating wasn’t available to me at the time and the Navy needed maintainers. When I first got to the Fleet, I was a little bummed out because I worked in mostly secret spaces where I could not bring my I-Pad to draw. This first brush with the unpredictability of the Navy meant I had to stop accepting commissions for my art online, at which point I kind of stopped making any art for a period.”
Jensen would continue to practice her art on her free time and would eventually be asked to create art for squadron logos and PSA posters.
“I was introduced to a whole new world of military art that I had no idea existed,” Jensen recalled. “I started designing art for the squadron and people quickly began to take notice. Before I knew it I was receiving requests from the ship and the squadron to produce art and it reignited my passion for drawing.”
She continued to draw throughout Ford’s maiden deployment, immortalizing many of her and her friends’ favorite memories with her work.
“I drew so much that my I-Pad literally broke,” said Jensen. “My friends loved all the pictures I drew and hung them all around our shop.”
As deployment came to a close, Jensen’s art was discovered by Gerald R. Ford’s commanding officer, Capt. Rick Burgess when the Wolverine Daily Digest featured a story about her artistic contributions to the deployment. She received a call asking if the ship could display her work on one of the hangar bay doors.
“My first thought when I received that call was ‘let me fix it first’,” Jensen said. “The design I had made was for a patch and I wanted to make sure it was perfect before anything was printed.”
Jensen and Ford’s leadership communicated following the deployment to finalize the design and see the finished product to fruition.
“It took months and I was kind of worried after I submitted the piece because I had stopped hearing about any progress for a while,” Jensen said. “I thought once they had seen the design they had decided to pass on the project.”
Instead, she was greeted by an epic surprise when she returned to Ford on Oct. 20, 2024 and saw her work towering over the hangar bay, proudly displayed on the hangar bay door.
“I was shaking from excitement. I was screaming and immediately called my Senior Chief to share the news.” Jensen said. “It was amazing and to see it in person was surreal. Ever since I finished that project I have had multiple commands asking me to design something similar.”
From drawing doodles of stick men, to creating masterpieces for large-scale display, Jensen has spent countless hours and has evolved to being an accomplished and visionary artist on her own with no formal education.
“I definitely plan to keep doing this. So many people have told me to make this my thing, whether that be in the military or not, I want to keep drawing for as long I can.” Jensen said smiling. “My advice to anyone who wants to pursue art, as cliché as it sounds, keep working toward it. Practice makes perfect and if you want to see something you can make it happen.”
Jensen’s mural now stands as a powerful testament to Ford’s and Carrier Air Wing 8’s achievements during the 2023 deployment that captures not only the skills of a talented artist, but the pride and unity of every Sailor in the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group. As the Ford moves forward into the future of naval history, Jensen’s art will stand as a long-lasting reminder to all who walk the ship’s hangar bay of the Ford’s maiden deployment and the camaraderie and triumph of the team that won the 2023 Ramage award.
| Date Taken: | 10.28.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 12.31.2024 06:16 |
| Story ID: | 488450 |
| Location: | NORFOLK, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 14 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, An Artist By Night, by PO2 Jacob Mattingly, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
