Bio

Jennifer, whose first career is singing, has been living in Montgomery County since 1989 and began a study of the figure in oil at The Art League of Alexandria in 2000. Influenced by her love of impressionist Singer Sargent, she has pursued a love of portraits, winning several first and best in show prizes. She has been accepting commissions since 2004 and produced a double portrait of the founder of Community Bible Study for their headquarters in Colorado in 2006. Jennifer gives back to the community - her “Pumpkin Pie with Strawberries I and II” palette knife works raised money twice, including once as a cover illustration on a cookbook benefitting at-risk youth in 2013. She co-founded a Monday night inner city arts program in 2000, AGAP www.agapdc.org , volunteering as a teacher of singing and art in Southeast D.C., Anacostia, for 11 years.

Her paintings have been purchased internationally from Sydney, Australia; Vancouver and Edmonton in her native Canada; and in the U.S. in Colorado Springs, Potomac, Gaithersburg, Rockville, Chevy Chase, Bethesda and Leesburg, Virginia. Jennifer made her solo gallery debut at the Great Hall Gallery at Metropolitan United Methodist Church in Washington DC in April 2014. She has been a resident artist at Capital Arts Network, Washington Artworks, and now at her current studio, Artists and Makers, all in Rockville MD. Currently a member of Glen Kessler’s Compass Atelier Master Artists program, and most recently at the late New Masters Art Gallery in Rockville, she is now excited to have her work on display at Retrouvé Home Gallery in Gaithersburg. Jennifer looks forward to blending her love of music and opera into her future narrative work.

Jennifer recently opened a new gallery space. Labyrinth Gallery and Studio is located in Laytonsville, Maryland at 6920 Sundown Road. For a tour or to view the gallery, please call her at 301-906-6009.

Artist Statement

For as long as I can remember I have sung and I have acted. It was my chosen vocation over many years even to the present. Opera was my medium ­— an artistic vehicle capable of transporting an audience to another place and era through classical sound and visual effect.

Now as a painter I am intrigued to give insight into both the opera character’s guise and the singer’s genuine face, surreptitiously peering behind the mask. I take photographs of my subjects posed in evocative lighting, seeking to capture a single, fleeting moment of commonality, as the actor occupies the part in period costume. What emotion can be glimpsed through the analysis of a characterful expression? What enigmatic puzzle lives side-by-side in the sitter’s reality and the character’s story? What is more real, the person or the persona? What I seek to impart is a subtle, emotional undertone common to both the fictional narrative and the actor. Through the juxtaposition of humanity, role, and paint on canvas, I celebrate these two subjects’ intertwined existence.

Gallery Shows and Exhibitions 

Jen has an ongoing exhibit in her newly opened space as of 2024. Labyrinth Gallery in Gaithersburg

The Compass Atelier Master Artist Program Thesis Exhibition  Artists & Makers Studios  Rockville, MD (solo), 2018

Retrouvé Gallery,Wires & Skies – Trees & Byways Small Works Show (solo), 2017

Herndon ArtSpace Expressions Portrait Competition Exhibit, 2017

Kensington Labor Day Art Show, 2017

New Masters Art Gallery Visual Envelopes Show (solo), 2017

WCCC Community Art Show and Sale, 2017

Friendship Heights Montgomery Art Association Spring and Summer shows, 2017

Artomatic (solo) Potomac MD, 2017

Montgomery Art Association Kensington Labor Day Show, 2016

Yellow Barn members drawing exhibition, 2016

Montgomery Art Association Kensington Labor Day Show, 2015

Dodona Manor Paintout Leesburg VA, 2014

Aylesbury Tearoom, Leesburg VA, 2014

Resident Artists Show, Washington Artworks, January, Rockville MD, 2014

Great Hall Gallery Show, Metropolitan United Methodist Church, Washington DC (solo), 2014

Lost Creek Winery Show, 2013

Chevy Chase United Methodist Church Show, 2008

Art in the Park, St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Washington D.C., 2005

Art in the Park, St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Washington D.C., 2004

Brad Pomeroy Students Art Show, McLean School, 2000

National Press Club Christian Art Show, 1999

Union Station “Hope in Our City” Show, 1998