About Us
Balancing Canvas and Community: The Journey of Jennifer Carwile
Jennifer Carwile is a visual artist from Oak Park, IL and has lived in Baton Rouge since 1992.
Throughout her formative years, Jennifer was heavily influenced by her high school art teacher, Lou Ann Forbes, who explained that to receive her MFA from The Art Institute of Chicago, she had to develop a new type of pottery. That conversation instilled the belief in Carwile that in order to be a true artist, one must develop “something new”.
Carwile went on to earn her BFA from the University of Kansas, where she was introduced to political and protest art, sparking a lifelong balance between creating art and community activism. She is fascinated by the duality of life whether that is man vs nature, growth vs. decay, and realism vs abstractionism. “In my work I investigate the delicate balance between the beauty and strength of nature and how nature rebounds, often in spite of our efforts,” said Carwile. Follow her on her journey to strike a balance between time spent on artwork and time on community activism.
Carwile opened Kelwood Contemporary Art (KCA) in 2015. The space houses her studio, as well as a gallery where she shows her own work as well a that of local and regional artists.
