Why I Do What I Do!

A native of Indianapolis, Indiana, Jennifer earned her Bachelor of Art degree from Indiana University, Bloomington 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 hill town in central Italy. In 1986, she received her Master of Fine Arts Degree from the University of Georgia, Athens.

Jennifer enjoys both landscape and figurative painting, mosaic work and sculpture. For the last several 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. International exhibits include Temple University, Rome Campus and Palazzo Casali in Cortona, Italy. She has been invited to speak about her work by several major universities including the University of Notre Dame, Purdue University, Boston College, and Bucknell.

She also has done mural painting and her works can be seen in The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis, The Indiana State Museum, and the Indianapolis Zoo.

EXHIBITIONS:

2000 to Present
Religion, Spirituality & the Arts, IUPUI "Lot's Wife" - March-April, 2019
Palazzo Casali, Cortona Italy; Inspired by Dante solo exhibition; 10/14/2006 – 10/29/2006
Temple University Rome; Rome, Italy. Inspired by Dante solo exhibition; 9/19/2006-10/10/2006
Dante after Doré; University of Notre Dame; special collections library exhibit; Oct.-Nov. 2005
Spirit In Place Festival; Exhibition and Festival participant; 9/01

1980 - 1999
University of Indianapolis; “Inspired by Dante” one artist show, drawings & Sculpture; 9/99
The Art Source; Sculpture Invitational exhibition, Indianapolis; IN 5/98-7/98 Indianapolis Artsgarden; “A Celebration of Women in the Arts” Invitational exhibit; 11/96
National Academy of Design; New York, NY, International’ 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
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 All-Campus Fine Arts Faculty Exhibition of Indiana University;
Invitational show, Indianapolis, IN; 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, Indianapolis, IN. One artist show; 8/83 New Artists at Madison Square Gardens, New York, NY. Juried international exhibition. 10/82

Internet Exhibitions, Television & Print Media
Cambridge Music Festival: program artwork July, 2010 Cambridge, England Columbia University Digital Dante website: http://dante.ilt.columbia.edu/images.html Inspired by Dante website: http://inspiredbydante.com Hellfire visions of Dante’s Inferno; Poetry Center of the University of Arizona; electronic exhibition 2004-05 Religion & EthicsNewsweekly; PBS program aired in 2000. Interview with Robert Pinskey, Poet Laureate; used images from Inspired by Dante exhibit for visuals. Arts Indiana Magazine, Volume 18, No. 5, Summer 1996; Featured Artist

Museum Murals - The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis
Science Works Gallery, two entrances and Indiana farm scene, 2016.
Take Me There; Egypt, 6 murals 5/09 Dinosaur Entrance Mural, 2009;
Ruben Wells mural;
Lilly Garden of Play Mural;