Jenny Dienno Spotlight
Jenny Dienno
Written by Nor Osborne, September 2025
Jenny Dienno likes to paint at her kitchen table, a cluttered array of brightly colored paintings laid out before her. Vibrant patterns of fruits, vegetables, animals, and flowers on canvas surround Jenny, all in different stages of completion. She’ll stop for a moment to breathe, staring out the window to watch birds and listening to the record playing, before delicately dipping her brush back into her palette of watercolors and getting lost in the flow of painting once again.
Jenny’s love of watercolors first developed at age 18. She had always enjoyed painting with her artistic parents, but only ever used oil pastels and acrylic paints. When she began to experiment with a set of watercolors, she fell in love.
“I started painting nonstop and gave my art to everyone I knew. Their encouragement pushed me to start selling my work, so at age 19 I applied for my first show,” Jenny explains.
Jenny began applying for and selling her work at marketplace shows all around the Columbus area. She created the brand Oh My Gouache for herself, a play on words from the watercolor gouache paint she utilizes. Following the success of her brand, she expanded, showing her work in Cleveland, Cincinnati, and New York City as well. Her art was even picked up by Target, who used one of her designs as a cover on their notebooks.
Recently, Jenny has been primarily showing her art at gallery shows, including one she currently has on display in Grandview Grind, and at art festivals, such as the Columbus Arts Festival, which she has participated in for the last 4 years.
Jenny’s art career coincides with a career in emergency medicine at the Ohio State University where she works as a Research Development Senior Analyst.
“I have lived two different lives, but at the same time my art blends into just who I am as a human,” Jenny says. “Science and art go hand in hand, the artistic part of my brain and the scientific move together.”
Over the course of Jenny’s artistic career, one guiding principle has emerged: accessibility.
“I firmly believe that art should be affordable,” Jenny says. “I’d rather more people have access to my art than not.”
“Most of my originals are priced between $50 and $100, something I won’t be changing even in this economy,” she comments.
Next to her originals, Jenny keeps a basket of 4x4 prints at every show and stand she hosts, selling the prints for $3 a piece.
“I want everyone, even little kids, to be able to buy my work. And they do! It’s amazing to see how much joy it brings them, it really inspires me.”
Another way Jenny tries to promote accessibility in the art world is through teaching. She has taught at many different studios, including The Bryn Du Mansion in Granville, Art with Anna in Bexley, and Studio 614 in Columbus.
“I get a lot of joy out of watching people in my classes show each other their art, taking pride in themselves,” Jenny smiles. “We are all artists, every single one of us, whether we say we are or not.”
“Art is everything and we are art. It's such an important part of being a human being, to have an artistic release, to process and express our emotions,” Jenny continues.
“The arts are so important, now more than ever, to bring us together as a collective, to heal us. Creating art is a form of resistance as well as healing.”