JENNIFER BELL ~ THE ARTIST

Jennifer Bell is quite an extraordinary woman with a wonder and innate ability to understand, create and transform  the French and Italian man, woman AND child onto a blank canvas.  I would say her work is unlike any other artist that I am aware  and her ability so unique and eloquently captured tho' sometimes so simply.   She has lived in Vancouver, Canada  where she owned and operated her own store front and studio.  After a change in her lifes path, she left for Europe to paint.  Her initial undertaking upon her arrival was to assist in restoring the art on the walls of a Renaissance convent.   Somewhere along the way she met a wonderful Italian man and she married  and settled  into her  now familiar and  comfortable Italian countryside.       She lives in southern Italy in the agrarian heel region of Puglia.  She loves her Italian home and lives a life so different from  her Vancouver  roots and that of New York City.  

She writes and I quote, "I am drawn like love to this countryside where I live now. Olive trees are woven in the ochre-colored hills that extend from Altamura.  The land is raw. brutally honest and as passionate as the works of Van Gogh.  The people are tireless workers and the gatekeepers of traditions.  I am intrigued by their dark ebony eyes and antique profiles, beautifully weathered skin and stone chiseled hands.  A subtle, caramel color saturates my canvases as I paint the very old and the very young."

About 4 or 5 years ago, I was working for a client who asked if I had ever heard of Jennifer Bell.  She had been written up in a magazine and my client had been drawn to her life's story and her work.  I did some researching and soon realized that I too loved her distinctive creativity for the FRENCH people who at that time she was mimicking so well onto her canvases.  We had several of her canvas' shipped to the shop and I was a sub-rep for her wondrous works of art.  I own one of her canvases and it remains to be one of our favorite pieces of original art in our home. 

Jennifer has named this piece of art, THE GOVERNESSES.  I simply adore the content, their characteristics which she so beautifully captures and their red noses which are always a part of her French interpretation of the people. 

Now that she paints the Italian people, I understand and for whatever reason that their ears are characteristically strong.  Jennifer documents in her own unique way, snapshots of moments where observation and imagination merge in her mind as she magically translates those moments onto canvas.


I encourage you to go to this website and look at her work............the slide presentations are out of this world and captures her, her life and her work.  So worth taking a few minutes to visit.

Jennifer's artwork is in a gallery in Austin, Texas.   I welcome you to go to their link and  website, http://galleryshoalcreek.com/  you are in for a real treat as you view her personal gallery.   Gallery Shoal Creek~ Ph. 512-454-6671