Door County Art Scene: A Changed Life – Artist Jennifer Lee

Jennifer Lee sketches in a local coffee shop. Photo by Gary Jones.

Jennifer Lee’s grandmother Franne Dickinson enrolled her in a workshop at the Peninsula Art School with Wendell Arneson a few years ago. “People told my grandmother this was a life changing class,” Lee said.

Dickinson is a well-known Ephraim artist, and Lee had spent a season in Door County interning for American Folklore Theatre.

“I’d never taken an art class before,” she continued, “and this was an advanced workshop for professional artists. It was an intimidating experience for me, having Nancy Sargent, Anne Egan, and Marjorie Mau in class with me as students!”

Arenson told his art students to take risks, to get outside of their comfort zones. Lee took his advice literally. Two weeks after the class ended, she moved permanently from Ohio to Door County, leaving everything behind her. And now she is a successful artist although still in her twenties.

Moving is a familiar way of life for her. “My father was in corporate retail,” she said, explaining that periodic changes in location were a part of his career. “I’ve lived in 12 or 14 different states.”

“Open Doors” by Jennifer Lee.

Lee, who has never attended a college or an art academy, is essentially a self-taught artist. She continues to take Arneson’s workshop each year and has found Door County to be a nurturing environment for artists.

“My grandmother has been supportive,” Lee said, “a really charming person. People like her a lot, so I had this giant network of support, of people who were fond of her, all of these wonderful people who were genuinely excited for me.”

But Dickinson also encouraged her granddaughter’s independence. “When I started painting,” Lee recalled, “I’d ask her on how to achieve certain results. She wouldn’t give me advice; she wanted me to paint with my own voice.”

Lee’s mother Jane, who had moved to Door County a year before her daughter, also became a part of the support network. She provided, Jennifer said, a “good sounding board for an opening, or a critique of my work.”

Jane Lee, a marketer for Coldwell Banker in Door County, has helped Jennifer with technical aspects of marketing her work, and has become “my partner in crime,” Jennifer joked.

The mother and daughter have formed a graphic design team. Jane has taught her daughter computer layout along with the technical aspects of graphic design. Together the women have created for Jennifer a business card, featuring representative pieces, and also a portfolio of her work, both multi-fold, pocket-sized productions. The Lees offer this service to other artists as well, as products of their design company.

Jennifer’s life has become multifaceted; in addition to working as an artist and graphic designer, she also waits table at a local restaurant.

“My art has gotten a lot more complex during the last year,” Lee said. Her earlier work was characterized by line drawings and simple structural designs. “Now I don’t know what I’m painting,” she continued. “I don’t think things out. I go right to it, and it becomes instinctive, intuitive.”

Lee’s bold use of color and her non-literal representations might remind viewers of the works of Picasso or Chagall. Her painting “Open Doors” went through an evolution characteristic of her creative procedure.

“In the Limelight” by Jennifer Lee.

“I began with a simple yellow cottage,” she said. “I redid it, adding figures of women. At first the background was white, but then I added another house behind it. The result was layers of subject matter, a layering of concepts, and you can’t tell where the piece began.”

As she works she feels her way, “going through a process rather than accomplishing a task.” It is a matter of discovery for her.

“I never have an intention when I start,” she said. “I have a childlike expectation of a miracle to happen, nothing that I intended. I go through the process to be surprised!”

Her paintings can intrigue, but at the same time puzzle viewers. She chooses not to use perspective. “My work is generally flat,” she said. “I’m not trying to make things round or to come forward.”

The results are evocative. “I don’t apply meaning while I’m painting,” she explained, “but you can derive meaning from a piece – not necessarily mine, but the viewers.”

Lee finds inspiration from artists whose work she studies. Her travels have taken her to galleries and art museums in this country and abroad, offering her the opportunity to observe other painters’ use of color and texture, for example.

And she finds inspiration around her. “I like funny body language,” she said. “I like it when people come out of their shells and are funny and clever.”

Lee is a member of the board of directors for the Wellness Center of Door County, in part because one of the focuses of the group is the empowerment of women. Her paintings often feature women who are strong and look strong.

“My art reflects a desire for women to gain strength and confidence through their own personalities,” she explained, “and their own body shapes.”

Although she is not yet thirty, Jennifer Lee’s career as an artist is thriving. “I like that I’ve found something that I’m passionate about and can share,” she said. “And I’m lucky that other people like it.”

“In Repose” by Jennifer Lee.

Her most recent show was featured at Mr. Helsinki restaurant this last October, a successful showing that was not only well attended but resulted in a number of sales.

The Peninsula Art School included her in their emerging artist exhibit a few years ago, launching her professional career. Since then her work has been shown at Gallery Ten, the Paint Box Gallery, the Festival of the Arts in Sister Bay, and the Francis Hardy Gallery.

“I would enjoy having my own gallery some day,” Lee said, “not only for my own work, but for others as well. I like promoting other people. I want other artists to feel good about themselves, to have another place for them to share a piece of their soul.”

In her way, Lee would be doing for new artists what her grandmother and the Door County art community did for her.

“There is an energy here,” Lee said, “a beautiful place to live. And the community works well together.”

Jennifer Lee has studio space in Gills Rock and welcomes people to see her work. Contact her at 920.421.1544 or [email protected]. Or visit her Web site: http://www.jenniferleestudio.com.