Jolene Schafer

Jolene Virginia Schafer creates art to encourage a viewer to engage with their imagination and become more aware of the connections that exist between all life forms. Her mask art and two-dimensional works intend to invigorate an audience as well as promote environmental awareness and conservation.

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Jolene is particularly interested in creating a shared experience with her mask art. Masks are a playful opportunity for people to see the world through the eyes of another creature and themselves in a new context. Designed from careful observation of the animals they represent, her masks are charged with potential; they connect whoever views or wears them with the animal the mask is modeled after. This connection helps inspire curiosity and an appreciation for the animal which may have not existed in the same way before.

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Jolene's two-dimensional art documents both real and imagined natural subjects, often combining previously unrelated forms and occasionally blending animate with inanimate elements. Jolene is interested in exploring pattern, structure and function of biological forms and adaptive behaviors to increase her understanding of them and propose new realities within her drawings.

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Jolene received her B.A. in Studio Art from St. Mary's College of Maryland in 2001. She continued her study at The New York Studio School of Drawing and explored mask construction at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. She most recently earned her Nature Art Certificate from the Desert Museum's Art Institute in 2022. She is currently adapting to life in Redmond, Washington