Brenda Dunn

Occupation: Artist, Entrepreneur, and Founder of Art in Jest. Author of Further Still and Re[place] Re[collect].

 

Photo by :SHAWN  MACDONELL of Creativision

“I make things. I also make
things happen.”
Profession: Artist, Entrepreneur, and
Founder of Art in Jest. Author of Further
Still and
Re[place] Re[collect].

Brenda Dunn has been getting in trouble for crayoning on the walls for as long as she
can remember. She eventually went to art school at the University of Guelph and drew
on whatever she wanted.
She works and plays in Ottawa where she came for grad school and stuck around ever
since. She learned lots of busy words during her Masters in English Literature, but it
turns out she prefers the visual to the verbal when it comes to communication. You can
see the things she makes at artinjest.com, or rifle through her digital sock drawer on
Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter all @artinjest.
She was hired into a corporate environment straight out of grad school and spent six
years being a high-performing fish out of water. When the opportunity to change
careers presented itself, she ran full tilt back to the arts and promises never to stray
again. She’s still super scared of cubicles.
She also doesn't totally get why these things are always written in the third person but
concedes that it does just sort of feel right.

Fun things I’ve done
– Founder of Art in Jest: I run my own artistic practice and arts business selling
work as well as workshops.
– I show my work all over Ottawa in group and solo shows, like the Studio Sixty Six
show ARTiculations, the upcoming Architectonics show at AOE, and I sell through
Art House Café, Maker House, The Village Quire and more.
– Co-founder of the Ottawa Gallery Map Project: created and maintain on online
and print map of galleries all over the city of Ottawa
– Neighborhood 150 Artist, Author of Re[Place] Re[Collect]: A collection of stories
from Ottawa seniors, printed as part of the Canada 150 celebrations, one of
twelve projects selected.
– Opener for the 2017 CSArt season, a curated season of arts events. Subscribers
chose a holiday to make fun of, and I created custom greeting cards for them
that now sell in stores all over the city.
– 2016-17 Artist in Residence, Art Place Program
– Member of the Young Arts Leaders Collective
– Event Director / Sponsorship for The Happening Arts Festival

Photo Credit : Toni Van Eden and CS Art