acrylic with venetian plaster on wood panel

Being Thankful for More

Jen Unekis was born in Los Angeles but spent her childhood in rural Kansas and in a small town in Eastern Idaho. After attending three high schools in three years, she moved to Lawrence to attend KU and decided to stay and call it her home. 

Growing up on her family’s farm she was inspired by her environment. Rusty farm equipment and the many layers of paint and wallpaper on the plaster and lath walls of the old farmhouse. Many of those same elements may still be found in her paintings. A fine crumbling cracked line, a broken edge, a burnished surface with accidental combinations of textures and layers of color.

Jen prefers to paint on panel using acrylic, graphite, China and glass pencil. Paying close attention to the pooling of color up against an inky line, or the way fine sketchy graphite marks can be obscured by paint yet still hold your interest. Creating a piece that ultimately finds its own beauty, balance and sense of self. A piece with its own personality and story to tell.  

Jen’s artwork has been collected nationally and internationally. Her paintings hang at the KU School of Business at Capitol Federal Hall and LMH’s West Campus and her work was recently added to the permanent collection of the Mulvane Art Museum. 

Today Jen lives in a little yellow bungalow near the Kansas River with her husband David, where she has recently converted their 1950’s detached garage into her painting studio.