Meet Jennifer Marx

Jennifer Marx was born and raised in southern Minnesota. She experienced an unstable and difficult childhood but found solace in creating art. Jennifer learned to draw and paint from both her grandmother, who was herself an artist and art teacher, and her father.

At age 30, Jennifer survived what should have been a fatal car accident. Jennifer became addicted to the narcotic pain medication she was prescribed following reconstructive surgery. When the prescription ran out, Jennifer turned first to using and then to selling street drugs to feed her addiction. Eventually, Jennifer was caught selling drugs and was sentenced to 65 months in prison.

“Art got me through prison,” Jennifer says. At first art was her “hustle” – she would draw for fellow inmates to earn money to spend at the prison canteen. Later, she used art in a therapy class to process and heal from trauma. Through her participation in a Prison Fellowship program, Jennifer developed a relationship with God that infuses her art and allows people to feel the beauty of her art as much as she does.

As Jennifer navigated the challenges of reentry into the community from prison, she did not feel she had time to create art. But following a “serendipitous” connection between her employer and Art From The Inside, Jennifer believed, “God is telling me I need to take time for art still, and I’m going to listen.” Jennifer hopes that by sharing her story through Art From The Inside, she “can be an inspiration.”

WHAT ROLE DOES ART PLAY IN YOUR LIFE?

Art is my muse. It makes me feel like I can be a part of something bigger. Something more. Art gives me a sense of purpose.

IDENTITY STATEMENT

I see myself as strong, free, independent and blessed. I have taken my hardships and turned them into something beautiful. “In the hour of adversity be not without hope, for crystal rain falls from black clouds.” ~ Unknown.

Pain

Graphite on hard canvas

20 x 24

INSPIRATION

When I drew this piece I was thinking to myself, “Wow, pain has really molded me”. Pain has created the beauty in every fiber of my being. Every time I make a right decision or have integrity in my day-to-day antics, or every time I choose love over fear, it’s because of pain. Pain is beautiful in such an uncomfortable way. Pain creates resilience and generates endurance. Without pain, there is no love.

Akasha

18 x 24

When I first saw this image in my mind’s eye, I thought of our soul. Our universal soul, and how we all connect. The energy that flows from one human being to another. From all living matter. Akasha is everything. Everything before, everything after. Akasha is how I reach out and touch someone who lives 10,000 miles away. She is how I see you. All of you. Her energy runs through you into me, transforms me, molds me, moves me.... changes my life.

Fallen Angel

18 x 24

INSPIRATION

I painted this piece because my whole life I felt like I came from somewhere else, like I’ve never belonged. I am half light and half dark. I look up at the stars and feel more at home than I’ve ever felt here on earth. I try my best to be good, but I have this fire burning inside me, this rage, deep inside. I have learned how to keep it at bay, but I can’t be who I am, I don’t fit in if I’m being myself. I am an angel that had her wing taken away for rebelling... I’m cursed, angry, tortured, haunted by my past and am struggling to redeem myself.

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