To know what you prefer, instead of humbly saying Amen to what the world tells you
you ought to prefer, is to have kept your soul alive.
- Robert Louis Stevenson -
Biography
A native of Indianapolis, Indiana, Jennifer earned her Bachelor of Art degree from Indiana University in 1982 in painting and drawing. During her undergraduate studies, she studied in Florence, Italy. In 1985, Jennifer returned to Italy, as a scholarship recipient during graduate studies in fine arts. She spent three months in Cortona, a medieval hilltown in central Italy. In 1986, she received her Master of Fine Arts Degree from the University of Georgia.
Jennifer enjoys both landscape and figurative painting, particularly work inspired by her travels. Along with her studio work, she has taught fine arts courses for Indiana University and does freelance illustration and mural painting. Clients have included The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, The Indiana State Museum, and the Indianapolis Zoo.
For the last nine years, she has been involved in creating drawings and sculptures inspired from Dante Alighieri’s medieval poem The Divine Comedy. Although the work is ongoing, a significant collection has been displayed in various exhibitions including, the Indianapolis Museum of Art and the National Academy of Design in New York. In recent years, she has been invited to speak about her work by several major universities including the University of Notre Dame, Purdue University, Boston College and the University of Kentucky. Exhibitions include Indiana University at Kokomo, Indiana University at Richmond, The Christel DeHaan Fine Arts Center Gallery at the University of Indianapolis and the Spirit in Place Festival sponsored by IUPUI. The PBS program Religion & Ethics News Weekly selected several drawings as visual aides during an interview with Poet Laureate, Robert Pinsky regarding his translation of the Divine Comedy. Columbia University exhibits the drawings online via their Digital Dante website. In 2006, the drawings will be exhibited in Italy.
“Although the Dante work has played an important roll in my career, I consider myself a painter. In every landscape that I paint, I seek to share two things; my love of nature preserved as a painterly expression and my desire to capture the essence of the place, full of light and life. In this regard, my life is devoted to the pursuit of discovering life. I do this through my many roles as artist, writer, wife, mother, and volunteer.” She enjoys her life with her husband David, and their three sons, Drew, Chris and Max!
Exhibitions & Lectures
Spirit In Place Festival; Exhibition and Festival participant 9/01
University of Indianapolis; “Inspired by Dante” one artist show, drawings & Sculpture 9/99
Columbia University; Digital Dante, an internet exhibition of “Inspired by Dante” internet address: www.ilt.columbia.edu/projects/dante/images
The Art Source; Sculpture Invitational exhibition, Indianapolis, IN USA 5/98-7/98
Indianapolis Artsgarden; “A Celebration of Women in the Arts” Invitational exhibit 11/96
National Academy of Design; New York, NY, intl’ juried exhibition 5/96-9/96
Indianapolis Museum of Art; “In Indiana” featured artist 6/96
Indiana University Kokomo; “Inspired by Dante” one artist show, drawings & sculpture 4/96
The Whitewater Valley Annual Competition; Indiana University East. Juried Exhibition; 11/95
Indiana University East; one artist show, Richmond, In; 10/95-11/95
Directions: The first All-Campus Fine Arts Faculty Exhibition of Indiana University; Invitational show, Indpls.; 8/95-9/95
Van Riper Gallery, Indianapolis, IN, Group Show; 9/92
Greater Lafayette Museum of Art, Lafayette, IN. Juried Exhibition; 6/90
Honeywell Foundation, Wabash, IN. One artist show; 7/89
Hoosier Salon, Indianapolis, IN Juried Exhibition; 5/98, 5/87, 5/86
Georgia Museum of Art, Athens, GA. Masters Candidates exhibition; 5/86 to 6/86
Palazzo Casali, Cortona, Italy. Group Exhibit; 11/85
Winthrop Art Gallery, Indianapolis, IN. One artist show; 10/84
Hoosier Salon, Indianapolis, IN. Juried exhibition & purchase award; 5/83
Merchants National Gallery, Indpls, IN. One artist show; 8/83
New Artists at Madison Square Gardens, New York, NY. Juried international exhibition. 10/82
Internet Exhibitions & Television and Print Media:
Columbia University Digital Dante website: http://dante.ilt.columbia.edu/images.html
“Inspired by Dante” website: http://inspiredbydante.home.att.net
Religion & EthicsNewsweekly; PBS program aired in 2000. Interview with Robert Pinskey,
Poet Laureate, regarding his translation of Inferno; used images from Inspired by Dante
exhibit for visuals.
Arts Indiana Magazine, Volume 18, No. 5, Summer 1996; Featured Artist
Public Art:
The Indianapolis Children’s Museum. Lilly Garden of Play Mural 90’x 20’ 8/2000
The Indianapolis Zoo. Amazon Jungle Mural in the Waters building. Assistant to project director Charles Jones 12/87-2/88
Indianapolis International Airport, International Arrivals building. Fiber Art wall display. 6/87
Lectures:
North Central High School, Indianapolis 10/2003
Boston College Honors Program 4/2003
University of Kentucky Foreign Lanuage Conference Plenary Lecture 4/25/2003
International School of Indianapolis; 11/2001
Spirit In Place Festival, 11/2001
University of Notre Dame, Devers Program in Dante Studies Guest Speaker 4/99
Purdue University; Italian Department, 3/98
Indiana University at Kokomo, 4/96
Indiana University East, Richmond 10/95
Guest Lecturer for National Art Honor Society Meeting at Ben Davis High School, Indpls; 10/16/96
Collections
Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
National City Bank, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Holliday Fenoglio & Fowler LP, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
The McDonalds Corporation
St. Vincents Hospital, Carmel, Indiana, USA
The Children's Museum of Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Indianapolis International Airport, Indiana, USA
Mr. & Mrs. A. Sellers
Mr. & Mrs. E. Villanyi
Mr. & Mrs. R. O. Kissel
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