About

Contact via Social Media:
@JenniferWester / @ArtConfessional / @CurateYourWeeds / @ARTBseries / @earth_to_wester

Jennifer Wester is a multi-disciplinary artist and mother of two young, bi-cultural children based in Dallas, Texas. She is a former professional figure skater (TeamUSA 2005-2010). She has worked in and visited many countries, including extended periods in Italy, Switzerland, and Russia. These experiences fostered her earliest interest in communications that could reach across linguistic barriers, such as the visual art. After a career ending injury in skating, and a desire to re-envision her future, Wester turned her attention to academic goals — graduating an interdisciplinary major merging computer science and fine art studies at Yale University in 2015. In 2016, she relocated to her birth state of Texas and began focusing on Art as a professional practice. In the Spring of 2021, Wester received her Master of Fine Arts degree at Southern Methodist University.

My work is about material and meta-physical states, detours, and recompositions. As a former professional ice dancer, I concern myself with the ephemerality of flow and transitions while embracing the frequently sharp, sometimes violent and often destructive nature of change. My intentions often dictate my mediums and the subsequent cannon from which I draw. For instance, my movement based paintings expand on the traditions of action artists such as the Gutai Art Association group and Jackson Pollock, while my sculptures and drawings explore the intersection of Process Art and Spatialism. Meanwhile, my video works draw inspiration from artists such as Buster Keaton and Bas Jan Ader. And most recently, I’ve been examining environment and symbiotic relationships, drawing inspiration from my hyper-local environment thanks to the shelter-in-place measures of the 2020 Covid-19 Pandemic.

By embracing movement and change, my work conceptually foregrounds reformation irrespective of subject, discipline or medium — elements that can vary from abstract to figurative, steel to paper, and performance to object. Motivated by my interest in transition and transformation, the stories my works tell are from birth to rebirth, rather than finite in length.  They are about shifted perspectives and resurrections. They are about journeys with indefinite destinations.  And in this way, my practice is as transitory and reformational in each body of work as the moments I seek to depict.

~J.Wester

Yale University B.A. | Computing and the Arts | 2016
Southern Methodist University | MFA in Studio Art | 2021

Museums/Collections:

  • Meadows Museum | Master of Fine Arts Collection

Awards/Grants:

  • Jones Fund and Zelle Fund Grant | Spring 2021
  • Jones Fund and Zelle Fund Grant | Fall 2020
  • Doolin Fund Grant | Fall 2020
  • Jones Fund and Zelle Fund Grant | Spring 2020
  • Dallas Office of Arts & Culture ArtsActivate 2020 Project Grant | Dallas, TX
  • Jones Fund and Zelle Fund Grant | Fall 2019
  • Doolin Family Art Material Fund Grant | Fall 2019
  • Dallas Office of Arts & Culture Arts Activate 2019-2020 Residency Grant | Dallas, TX
  • Meadows Award | Southern Methodist University | 2019 – 2021
  • MFA Fellowship | Southern Methodist University | 2019 – 2021
  • Office of Cultural Affairs Cultural Vitaliy Program Grant | Dallas, TX | 2019
  • Glasstire Burning Man Artist Ticket & Stipend | 2017

Upcoming:

  • Solo Shows
    • ReRooting | TBA
  • Paper Arts
    • Building Dallas | West Dallas, Summer 2021
    • Popsicles in the Park | June | Dallas, TX
  • Group Shows
    • Blue Plate Dinner | Fundraiser for the Community Arts Center
  • Installations
    • Achieve Project 1
    • Chocolate’s Birthday
  • Teaching Artist Engagements

Recent Exhibitions/Installations/Shows:

  • Solo Exhibitions
    • Seeing Time| Reception March 3 at 6:30 pm | March 3 – 25, 2020 | Angelina College ACA Gallery | Lufkin, Texas | North America
    • Cutting Loops| Jan. 6 – Feb. 27, 2020 | Mesquite Arts Center | Mesquite, TX
    • Restrutive Engagements #2 | Doolin Gallery | Feb. 19, 2020 | Dallas, TX
    • Breaking Shadows | SOLUNA Festival | May 18, 2018 | Dallas, TX
    • Mater’ium | Umbrella Gallery | March 2016 | Dallas, TX
  • Paper Arts
    • Alonso Berruguete Exhibition | Meadows Museum
    • Dallas Public Library Girls Rock the Vote Virtual Book Club
    • Dallas Culture Office Drive Up Arts & Craft Distributions
    • ARTB at Anita Martinez Rec. Center | Residency 2019-2020 | Dallas, Tx
    • ARTB with West Branch Dallas Public Library | Residency 2019-2020 | Dallas, TX
    • Restructive Engagements #2 | Feb. 19 | Doolin Gallery | SMU Campus | Dallas, TX
    • ARTB | Mesquite Arts Center | Feb. 1 | Mesquite, TX
    • ARTB | Sept. 29, Oct. 27, Nov. 17, Dec. 22 | Historic | Dallas, Texas
    • Holidays in your hands | ARTB at Noël Marche with Alliance France | Dallas Intl. School | Dallas, TX
    • Cedars in your hands | ARTB at Full City Rooster for Cedars Open Studios 2019 | Nov. | Dallas, TX
    • Cedars in your hands | ARTB with COS | Deep Ellum Creative Market with Decent Collective | Dallas, TX
    • Cedars in your hands | ARTB with COS | Mid-Autumn Moon Festival | Dallas, TX
    • Cedars in your hands | ARTB with Cedars Open Studios at NNO | Oct. 1 | Dallas, TX
    • Dallas in your hands | ARTB with Seniors | Love For Kids | Sept. 25 | West Dallas Multipurpose Center | Dallas, TX
    • Cedars in your hands | Park(ing) Day | Sept. 20, 2019 | Dallas, TX
    • ARTB Kids Create Center | The Other Art Fair | Sept. 19-22, 2019 | Dallas, TX
    • ARTB at Private School Preview | ArborCreek Montessori Booth | Sept. 8 from 2-4p | Greenhill School | Dallas, TX
    • Remembering the Ambassador | Four Corners Brewery | Aug. 21 | Dallas, TX
    • ARTB | Aug. 18 | Back to School Bfast with Historic | Kidd Springs Rec. Center | Dallas, Texas
    • THIS city in your hands | Dallas OCA CVP Project | #DallasInYourHands Spring 2019 | West Dallas, TX | North America
    • Rockin’ Rapsody Downtown Fever | April 19, 2019 | Mesquite, TX | North America
  • Performance Work
  • Sculpture Work
    • The Black Bone China Dinner | @TheBlackAlbumMixtape
    • | Tinsel | Dec. 18-19, 2020 | Tin District | Dallas, TX
    • Chatter & Wit | CHEER! | Nov. 14, 2020 – Jan. 2, 2021 | Joule Hotel | Dallas, TX
    • Restructive Engagements #2 | Feb. 19 | Doolin Gallery | SMU Campus | Dallas, TX
    • Restructive Engagements | Owen Arts Center | Dec. 11, 2019 | SMU | Dallas, TX
    • Chillnaughty | Nov. 16 | Boedecker Space | Cedars Union X SMU | Dallas, TX
    • The Other Art Fair | Saatchi Art | Sept. 19-22, 2019 | Dallas, TX
    • SCULPTURE – a Celebration of Art on Henderson | Sept. 7 – Sept. 30 | Dallas, TX
    • N.E.R. | Burning Man 2019 | Aug. 22-Sept. 2 | BRC | North America
    • Identity | ArtCon Seed | June 1, 2019 | Life in Deep Ellum, Dallas, TX | North America
    • Art on Henderson 2019 Collection | 2323 Henderson Ave. | Dallas, Texas | North America
    • LUCKopalooza | LUCK Dallas | Apr. 14, 2019 | West Dallas, Texas | North America
    • COLOR. | March 2019 | Maddrey PLLC | Bank of America Plaza | Downtown Dallas, TX | North America
    • Yayden Pop | Feb. 23, 2019 | Yayden Art Pop-Up Exhibition | Design District, Dallas, TX | North America
    • LUCK Dallas | Dallas, TX | North America
    • Burning Man 2018| Breaking Shadows V2 | Black Rock City, NV | North America
    • ArtCon 12 | Dallas, TX | North America
    • Local Brew & Press | Dallas, TX | North America
    • Drugstore Cowboy | Dallas, TX | North America
    • Life in Deep Ellum | entitled: Microgallery | Dallas, TX | North America
    • Life in Deep Ellum | entitled: Mater’ium | Dallas, TX | North America
    • Yale Art School Green Gallery| entitled: Play | New Haven, CT | North America
    • Yale Art School Green Gallery | entitled: Studio | New Haven, CT | North America
    • Yale 36 Edgewood Sculpture Building/Gallery | entitled: XYTheta | New Haven, CT | North America
  • Video / Projection Work
  • Painting Work
  • Printmaking Work
  • Drawing Work
    • Atmospheric Sketches | Eataly | May 8-9. 2021 | Dallas, TX
    • Historic Spring Floor Drawing| April 2, 2021 | Dallas, TX
    • SMU MFA Candidate Thesis Show | Pollock Gallery | March 27 – April 10, 2021 | Dallas, TX
    • WHISTLE | Greece | Europe
    • Kinderboekje Rotterdam | Fall 2018 | Rotterdam, Netherlands | Europe
    • Phobias by ArtCon | Dallas, TX | North America
  • Photography
  • Teaching Engagements
    • ArborCreek Montessori Academy | Upper Elementary & Middle School Art Class | 2018-2020
    • Adult Painting Night | Anita Martinez Rec. Center | Feb. 27 | Dallas, TX
    • Teaching Assistant | SMU | Printmaking | Fall 2019
    • Lab Tech Assistant | SMU | Photography Lab | Fall 2019
    • Teaching Assistant | SMU | Painting | Spring 2020
    • Teaching Assistant | SMU | Sculpture | Spring 2020

Additional Information:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Wester
https://medium.com/italia-innovation/meet-an-innovator-jenn-wester-5ea4b423850e#.nt96mudzw