Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer Brooke.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I came to Boston to get away from the small town of Niskayuna, NY for college, where I roomed with artist, Candice Behrens whose father had been a great palette knife painter, Howard Behrens. While I was in BU’s communications program I watched as Candice would struggle over painting the nipples on her portraits just right. She inspired me. As a little girl I was always drawing large headed big-eyed people with tiny bodies. After college I spent a brief stint at The Art Institute at Lesley University where I drew the letter T over and over, crumpled paper bags and bodies that had never seen razors. The highlight was having a professor actually buy a scrap drawing I made during class for his collection and being grilled about what color I saw in a radiator (It was not just gray!). It was an awesome experience. I moved away to Miami where I was briefly married a Boricua man-child who didn’t want me painting because it could mess up the marble and earned a Masters in Mental Health counseling. Makes sense, right? Back to the safety of Boston I went. I craved intellectual conversation and people who cared about causes. I started a social club, The Good Ones with a friend, and quickly started getting commissioned pieces through the people I met at the networking events. My favorite is a 6′ x 5′ piece “Dexter”, after the shoe company not the serial killer. It took many months and even more massages to create (BIG thanks to Josh @restoredmagic), The deep textured beauty debuted at L.A.H and is hanging in a member of the esteemed Lunder family’s home collection. The family is long time patrons of the arts (think Colby College, Lesley and Smithsonian collections) Cough. Brag. The last few years I’ve curated artists together for over 20 shows and now advise on a startup called m.i.n.d., a creative collaborative aimed to unite people together.
Please tell us about your art.
I got into acrylics for a long time and enjoyed making abstracts about music, balance, female sexuality and organic shapes. Each series has a meaning behind it. When I was drawing cows smoking on Smith & Wollensky napkins (I would steal from the lavatory) It was a statement about the poor conditions we have for animals and how even in a Bourgeois steak house, we are still eating the equivalent to cows who are smoking because they are stressed and unhappy and those hormones are in the meat we consume. We are literally eating unhappiness. My latest work is using alcohol ink and I’ve devoted a new Instagram and website to the medium. These are abstracts related to chakras. Each piece is associated with a quote related to the chakra I’m examining. I’ve been working with a modern kundalini shaman, Peggy McClellan (@wellwithpeggy) and this has opened me up to examining my inner self and this exploration spills into the artwork. When I was a hurting fresh divorcée, I painted people with missing eyes and limbs betraying my broken heart. When I had suicidal feelings, I would paint. When I am happy now, I still paint. Art has always been a safe place for my emotional expression. I hope people will take away joy, like the client who says he sleeps better now with my painting in his bedroom. (I slept a lot when I made that piece) or the client that has more hot sex with my painting hanging proudly over his king’s bed (I slept a different kind of lot when I made that piece). The peace, hope and good vibe energy in these paintings is a gift, a part of myself I’m giving to the new owner. I want for people to reexamine their beliefs and judgments and look at the world from different angles always knowing there is a solution wrapped in compassion and love. My heart is happiest when I’ve created an experience for others to enjoy with uninhibited freedom.
What do you think is the biggest challenge facing artists today?
The “starving artist” myth needs to go. To be a thriving artist you need to practice and fail in public so you learn and grow. Find and cultivate patron relationships because no one wants to survive on popcorn. Keep your day job so you can be in a healthy mindset to make art. Strive to always get paid for your craft, and never give it away unless you are sure of what the benefit is. There are a lot of amateurs that will work for free which makes it harder for the professionals. Know that you are worth getting paid for your art so that you can make more art. Art supplies are expensive unless your hacking it up with crayons. Artists need to diversify their revenue streams and continue to make art as “success” can take time and no need to cut your ear off to make things speedier, even Van Gogh had a rich brother to help support him. The best artists look at what other artists are doing and learn from the masters. The best artists find a community that will support their weird haircuts and funkier ideas. Without a community of other misfit artists, I would feel on the fringes of life. I need these folks to thrive. They understand me and I them. The creative class has always come together to share ideas and make innovation happen. Self-actualization – which I think is important not only for good art creation but for life- happens when you can care less about what other people say and just do you. You might stand out and that can be more uncomfortable than staying in your PJ’s eating Higher Grounds Vice Cream scrolling on Insta and wondering why you just didn’t “make it”. Create every day. Studio time is important to try different techniques and mediums and expand. We can all be artists and mavericks in our own lives. “If you’re not creating, you’re dying.”
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
Now: See commissioned series of 4 rare White Strawberries at Wellesley Toyota. They are truly made with love. Later: This summer I’ll be hosting an exhibition and launching a new handbag I’ve designed, made in the USA, which will give a portion of profits back to funding a well in Gwase, Uganda in collaboration with Engineers without Borders, NH Chapter. You can check out new designs on my website JenniferBrooke.com where there are options to outfit your entire house in my prints. I think this would be overkill but you do you, playah.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jenniferbrooke.com
- Email: j@jenniferbrooke.com
- Instagram: @missionlovesart
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JBrookeDesign
- Other: @missionminds
Image Credit:
Credit to the artist, Jennifer Brooke
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