Late bloomer
Minneapolis artist Jennifer Davis found art in college and has never looked back
By Kathleen Keish
Published: September 24th, 2008 | 10:15am
Jennifer Davis may not have been born an artist, but upon finding her niche in college, an artist was born.
Davis attended the University of Minnesota, where upon finishing all of her general requirements, she began taking art classes for fun. After dipping her toe in the pond, she become instantly enamored and began pursuing art as a career choice.
“I pretty much took everything that they had to offer and I just loved it,” she says, now holding a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting. “Now I’m not so sure how useful that degree is, but it sure was fun.”
While many attend college with a career goal in mind, Davis went in unknowing of what lay ahead of her. Though many cower at the thought of the unknown, Davis embraced the fickle time after high school when it is not unusual for teens to question their goals and aspirations.
“It’s absurd to think that high school kids should know what they want to do and what they want to major in because you change so much those first few years in college,” she says.
And change she did. With her bachelor degree in tow, Davis has been making a splash in that pond she was formerly only wading in. After working at an advertising agency after college, Davis was laid off and has been a self-sustaining artist ever since.
“I actually found that working in an office was very bad for me — it was very suffocating for me,” she says. “Actually, getting laid off from my job was one of the best things that ever happened to me.”
Davis’s work mirrors her creative personality. Using acrylic with graphite on hard board, she creates ethereal images of people, animals, and miscellaneous objects using primarily pastel colors. However, she believes that below the feminine exterior lies a darker sub context that reaches viewers of her art on a subconscious level.
“Aesthetically… they’re really narrative and whimsical,” she says. “I use a lot of pastel color and people think of them as being kind of girly, but I also think that they’re darker undercurrents in a lot of my work that maybe aren’t immediately obvious.”
Though the word ‘ethereal’ effectively describes Davis’s aesthetic, she derives inspiration from everyday happenings that may not be best described as so.
“I think they’re sort of a dreamland, fantasyland kind of thing. A lot of them are very surreal, but they’re also rooted in reality and everyday problems or emotions,” she says. “And I think that’s what makes them recognizable emotionally.”
Though Davis found art a bit later in life than some, she has been successful with showing her work at various galleries. She is currently being featured in the Enormous Tiny Art Show in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and will be having a solo show at the Cerasoli Gallery in Culver City, California starting October 11. In addition to the more traditional routes taken by artists looking to display their work, Davis has also used her love for music as an outlet. She did the artwork for Benjamin Brackett’s album Hear Ye Hear Ye and designed T-shirts for Mason Jennings, among other things. Though she is not a musician herself, Davis derives inspiration from the artists in this medium.
“I hang out with a lot of musicians, and they definitely inspire me,” she says. “I love artists of all kinds and I just happen to have quite a few musicians in my life. It’s just really fun to collaborate with them.”
Though Davis is not a household name just yet, her brave foray into the fickle world of self-sustaining art has been worth the risk.
“I’m just continually surprised that I’m still able to do it, I’m just chugging along,” she says. “I’m just squeaking by financially all the time but… I’m willing to live on that edge, I guess, because I love doing this every day so much.”
—
View more of Davis' work online at work online at jenniferdavisart.com.
Issue #31
Comments
Want to tell us what you think? Please click here to log in or just click here for quick comments