Indigenous Instagram: @creating_jennifer_lee
Website: jennbowman17.wixsite.com/creatingjenniferlee
Artist Bio
Born in Orillia, Ontario, (Mariposa of Stephen Leacock’s Sunshine Sketches of our Little Town, in Spanish mariposa = butterfly), Jennifer was adopted on a November day so warm that a little white butterfly crossed her parents’ path as they carried her down the stairs on their way to the car. This was not the first influence of butterflies in Jennifer’s life, nor would it be the last. Her mother was working on a crewelwork pattern of Monarch butterflies as she awaited the call that there was a baby ready to adopt into her family. This piece is now framed and hangs in pride of place in Jennifer’s home in Brockville, Ontario. The butterfly has become Jennifer’s emblem with its relevant symbolism of new beginnings, transformation, and hope.
Jennifer incorporates butterflies into her artwork when she can and frequently explores the themes of new beginnings, transformation, and hope. She even styles her signature with her initials combined into the form of a butterfly and has one tattooed on her wrist.
Jennifer came to art later in life after a career focused on science and technical details. She fell in love with painting after a Paint and Sip fundraiser attended with friends. Soon after she started following Cinnamon Cooney – The Art Sherpa – on YouTube. She found learning to paint to be therapeutic and transformative following some challenging life experiences. She developed her practice of art journaling through teachers like Tamara LaPorte and Effy Wild. Now as a Fine Arts student at St. Lawrence College, each new work is an experiment to see how she can grow and personalize the art she creates. Her goal is to move away from technical accuracy, and move towards a looseness of expression, impressionistic depictions and the suggestions of details.
Jennifer’s art-related success began in kindergarten with 1st prize in the Fire Prevention Poster Contest awarded for her crayon drawing entitled “Don’t play with matches.”
Skip forward to her Art College years when Jennifer’s wall mural design was chosen to be painted on one of St. Lawrence College’s classroom walls. Her student works have been displayed in the College’s entry way display cabinets, as well as in the Student Commons. She is excited for this year’s graduation exhibit in the Marianne Van Silfhout gallery on the Brockville campus of SLC.
Jennifer’s art-related success began in kindergarten with 1st prize in the Fire Prevention Poster Contest awarded for her crayon drawing entitled “Don’t play with matches.” Skip forward to her Art College years when Jennifer’s wall mural design was chosen to be painted on one of St. Lawrence College’s classroom walls. Her student works have been displayed in the College’s entry way display cabinets, as well as in the Student Commons. She is excited for this year’s graduation exhibit in the Marianne Van Silfhout gallery on the Brockville campus of SLC.
Artist Statement
I create art as a form of therapy for myself. I find that working with colour and composition brings me joy in the images that develop. I have gained confidence as my art evolves and appreciate that there is a way to communicate and express feelings without words.
I am a mixed media artist, so I tend to incorporate any and all media in my art. My choices are intuitive; I select whatever materials feel right in the moment. I love to try new techniques and work with unusual colour palettes. I usually strive to create positive artwork that enhances wellbeing and happiness, but this year I feel the need to explore the darker feelings of lost opportunities and diminishing potential felt upon reaching middle age. I think it is necessary to confront these feelings to be able to accept current reality and the opportunities and potential that still remains.
My current work is a therapeutic examination of the frustration and rage against conventional expectations of “success” that should be reached by a female at midlife. I am challenging what is important in life, and whether traditional expectations of “success” are the only set of benchmarks that we should be aiming towards to live a happy, healthy life with purpose.
