Jenn Smith

I have been drawing as long as I can remember. It's like breathing to me. I never really thought much about it. I just loved to draw and would always ask for and find art sets still get excited til this day going into an art store and purchasing supplies. My parents always encouraged my creative urges. My mom would buy out paper all over the kitchen floor, when I was a child, and it would cover the floor for hours. I remember cutting out pictures from Seventeen magazine and collages and decorating everything. I even had a sponge painted my bedroom walls a bright orange color which my dad hideous, but I loved it. (Sorry pops!) I never saw myself. I always knew art was a part of me but I just never understood how much of an impact I had on my life.

One day, as a junior in high school, I doodled all over my accounting test which I didn't study for again. Who knew that the doodles would change my life forever? My mother was called us to school and the teacher told her point blank that I did not belong in the Finance department. I belonged in the Art department! Since I never gave it thought before this moment, I sat silent. My mother and my father agreed. So instead of punishing me for failing his accounting test, I was rewarded by opening up a whole new world for me. I need to look up that accounting teacher and thank him now for changing my life. I was directed to meet Sal Glannon, the art director and in a short amount of time.

I was introduced to a world of art I never knew.

Sal showed me how to construct an art portfolio. I completed artwork pieces consisting of watercolors, charcoals and pastels. The lessons were in his backroom his direction he gave me was priceless. It was daunting, to say the least, when I arrived for parents to apply for art schools. Sal's lessons in for the application directions for less than a year, I had completed only ten pieces for this portfolio. Other applicants came with entire portfolios for this and had extensive portfolios.

But, despite my short art lessons, I made every college I applied to and even got a scholarship! College took me to Hartford University where the head of the art department strongly recommended that I major only in drawing and minor in graphic design. There was something about graphic design that had interested me and I didn't think that only drawing should stand in my way and limit my possibilities. So, having decided to follow my intuitions, I transferred to School of Visual Arts in New York City and studied graphics design. My work was published in Society of Publication Designers Show even graduated. After graduation, I was hired by Garden Design and Saveur magazine in Soho, New York City as a graphic designer. This, first job open up the world of editorial design to me. I quickly moved on to a position at the Boston Globe as an art director for their Magazine. My desire is always to challenge myself with my art and me to apply for graduate school. I was accepted into a Typography Design program of London School of Design, England.

Since Graduating with my masters in typography, I went on to work in Princeton, New Jersey for a pharmaceutical design agency. It was at this time I met the love of my life. I left my job, apartment, friends and family to move to Minnesota to live and be with him. It was here that I finally worked for MYSELF. I also taught college courses about typography, instructional package design and color theory. My clients were Target, General Mills and Exhibt Group Giltspur. During the years I was engaged and decided to move back home to New Jersey. I worked for Toys R Us in Wayne, New Jersey and then Exhibt Group Giltspur in Soho, New York City. All this time, I became pregnant with my first child. I was so excited since early medical issues lead me to believe that it would be difficult to ever become pregnant. Well, four years and four doctors later, the doctors were wrong. I am a very proud mom of four gorgeous children. Two boys Brandon Tyler and Trevor James and Two girls Courtney Annie and Casey Lynn. Although I swapped late nights in office in soho for feedings and being a stay at home mom. My creative urges never left me. I painted my children and husband's and artists which always makes it a huge part of my life.

As crazy as my life is at all times now, I wouldn't want it any other way. My children teach me everyday to look at life in wonderment and to have no inhibitions. When all else fails laugh until you have tears running down your face. They give me the drive and encouragement to share my crazy world with the world. My children turn to me and say, "Mom, you did a real good job at your drawing." That is the best compliment I could ever receive. It reminds me that I don't care about these days! My only wish is that my illustrations bring a smile to your face and joy into your life. Maybe... Just maybe, you'll want to own one of my prints to hang on your wall or frame a special memory.