Jennifer was brought up in a family of artists, as a result her parents encouraged her love of art. She attended the Vancouver School of Art Saturday classes and the Banff School of Art as a teenager and then went on to the University of Victoria. There she trained as a high school teacher with a major in Visual Arts. Her teaching career began when she began teaching Grades 11 and 12 when she was only 22. She supplemented her knowledge with additional courses in Printmaking, Ceramics, Graphic Design and Drawing and Painting. Her specialty became 2D although she has taught both Ceramics and Sculpture. Later she earned a Master's Degree in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Oregon.
In addition to her classroom teaching, her professional career included work on the BC Visual Arts Curriculum. In the school district she took a position in the Curriculum Department as a helping teacher, working with elementary teachers on their Visual Arts implementation in their classrooms.
She also presented workshops on Pro-D days and at conferences. Jennifer also spent time on contract as an art gallery educator and wrote a proposal for the establishment of an education program at the AGGV. Eventually she has taught Visual Arts at every level from K-12, including Advanced Placement, at UVIC in the Art Education Department as a sessional instructor and in both public and independent schools. She was awarded the Pacific Region Art Educator of the Year by the National Art Education Association (US). She also advised and assessed pre-service student teachers on practicum for UVIC.
She has been a volunteer on the Oak Bay Arts Alive jury and has painted a piano for their summer musical event and has volunteered at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.
Her artistic career began about 25 years ago. Since then she has exhibited widely in galleries, studio tours, hotels and restaurants in Victoria and 'up island'. Her work has moved through themes: Chinese lanterns, folk art, a 'silk series' based on Japanese kimono designs and of course still life. She has also designed a line of greeting cards that are sold in several locations on Vancouver Island. Her artistic heroes are Joseph Plaskett, Grant Leier and Canada's Beaver Hall women painters.
StatementI paint in acrylics, usually creating invented still lifes. I use painted and stamped patterns on objects and backgrounds. Recently I have been playing with perspective, tilting tables, skewing tabletops in order to reverse perspective, flattening objects and playing with light sources. Sometimes the objects (fruit, flowers) are realistically portrayed with light and shadow and other times they are made 'impossible' by tinkering with perspective and flattening shapes. The contrast of colour, pattern and tone is an interesting challenge as the painting progresses. My choice of colour is always vibrant as it is difficult for me to ignore its energy.
Stripes, dots, chequerboards, zigzags, squiggles in repeat are all patterns I use in my work to add interest, energy and contrast.
