We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jennifer Brennan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Jennifer , thank you so much for taking the time to share your lessons learned with us and we’re sure your wisdom will help many. So, one question that comes up often and that we’re hoping you can shed some light on is keeping creativity alive over long stretches – how do you keep your creativity alive?
By communicating with my collectors, and supporters, and hearing the feedback from them definitely keeps my creativity alive. Knowing that my work is enjoyed and desired by others is so inspiring. My love for recycling is also how I help keep my creativity alive. My forms for my sculptures are made from different repurposed/ recycled materials, which otherwise would end up in a landfill. I love being part of a solution, and hopefully an inspiration to look at things that normally would be thrown away, to be given new life. I’m always inspired by new ideas and trying new things. I have recently partnered up in a collaboration with my best friend,, David Kimble, who is the most creative, positive and loving partner I could ask for.. We are going to be taking the sculpture work that I have been working on my own with for so long into a creative union that we co create together in from now on. Working together with my best friend is so exciting! We will also be starting a website this year where we can share our art with so many more individuals. Bouncing ideas off one another and creating together is defenitely keeping those creative juices flowing .🙂
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I began creating my paper mache sculptures approximately seven years ago in order to help me raise some much needed funds for some horses I rescued from slaughter. This inspired and pushed me to really dig into my creative mindset. Being a self taught artist, I have experienced lots of trial and error in perfecting my craft. After several years, and countless hours of late nights of working on my sculptures, I had a most incredible experience!. A legendary Hollywood character creator and puppeteer had noticed a Bigfoot head I had posted on a social media art site. Her name is Camilla Henneman. She had helped create Harry from the movie, Harry and The Hendersons. She also helped create Slimer for Ghostbusters Busters 2. Camilla also worked on the fat suit for the Nutty Professor, she created the fat suit for the Weird Al song. She worked on Gorillas in the Mist, was in The Michael Jackson Thriller video and has many more accomplishments I haven’t mentioned here. She was Rick Bakers costume shop supervisor for several years as well. For me to be recognized by her is nothing short of amazing to me.. I am proud to call her a personal friend now, as well as a collector of mine! She has helped me tremendously in my art career. I can’t say enough wonderful things about her. She’s an incredibly wonderful human being.
So,the end of 2024 has been a crazy roller coaster ride for me. I was abruptly evicted out of my home in November. I had stayed in a very toxic relationship for eight years with someone. One day, it finally came to a head, and my life was completely upended. I had to immediately get out with my young son, and find homes for my farm full of animals, including my rescued horses who I had been passionately creating my artwork for. As soul crushing as this seems, it has all brought me to find the love of my life,and best friend David Kimble. He came into my life at just the right time to help me get through such devastation and heartbreak. . David and I are now partnering up with our art. We are going to be starting a website, and we will together be creating all brand new one of a kind creations. I’m so excited looking forward, as we have some fantastic ideas in the works,including creating a seven foot tall Yeti!
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Resilience,, trusting in my passion and being open minded have been most impactful on my journey I believe. My advice for folks early in their journey would be to know that you’re going to have challenges, but if you truly love something, and if you are truly passionate about something, never give up, and never back down. Stay open minded. You never know who you might meet, who you may help, or what you may learn keeping an open mind.
How would you spend the next decade if you somehow knew that it was your last?
I am currenyly rebuilding my life after being evicted from my home of eight years. I had to re home all of my farm animals who lived with me for all those years. I’m trying to find a way to keep ownership of my rescued horses. Currently I have a lovely woman who is allowing me to keep them with her while I try to figure out how to afford to keep them long term.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jennifersausebrennan?igsh=eml5ZTRqMjJ3OXRj
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/15NyoceFXA/
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