Jennifer Kirsten White

Jennifer White is an artist who loves painting birds and butterflies and animals from nature. She gives her animals whimsical bodies and faces that make you smile and even laugh. Her blue armadillo with pink spots is a little unusual and her green tree frog makes you think it could hop into or out of a little boy’s pocket. Jennifer has not let her disabilities of Down syndrome and visual impairment, hold her back. As a child her art started with pages of faces drawn with black and red ink pens. In grade school and Jr. High she played the violin and now she does Tai Chi and takes computer classes at Mesa Community College. She takes the bus across town, phones family members at home if she is running late and handles her own checking account. She took a mainstream class in art in high school and the teacher, Mr. Burdell Moody took her under his wing and encouraged her to let the color and designs flow as she lacked the inhibitions of many students. He arranged for her to have her own art show at her 3,000 person high school. One year three of her entries were selected as final winners in the Arc of Arizona Christmas card and calendar contest. Her “Hummingbird Feeding” and her “Arizona Roadrunner” adorned the Governor’s Council annual reports in 2004 and 2006. She was nominated for a Governor’s Arts Award from the Az Commission for the Arts also in 2006. In 2008 she received the “Best in Show” blue ribbon for her booth at the Saturday MAC Fest in Mesa.