Jennifer Schulman

Jennifer Schulman creates interactive games and toys that grew out of her firsthand observations and overheard comments in her K-5 classrooms. Her work deals with the all-too-real issue of domestic abuse. Drawing upon her undergraduate training in art education and graduate studies in studio art and family and justice studies, Schulman creates disturbing games that marry family dysfunction with family fun. Operation (2006), for example, features an altered game board on which the patients organs are labeled with unsettling comments. These pieces are most effective when audiences interact with them, not surprising from an artist with serious pedagogical training.

"My work reveals disturbing aspects of contemporary culture often kept secret in homes and in childhood memories. As an art educator, I have observed secret struggles children face in their families each day. This body of work was developed by combining these experiences with research. Each piece approaches these issues through the use of familiar family games inviting the viewer to play through each concept. Combining the fun aspect of a game with these serious family-centered problems puts a twist into the work that leaves the audience uneasy and hopefully brings recognition to these often neglected issues."

Jennifer Schulman received her MA in Liberal Studies and BA in Art Education from Kent State University. She has shown at University of the South, Sewanee, TN; Frankfort Book Fair, Frankfort; Diary Painted furniture workshop exhibition, Oxford, OH; Childrens book workshop exhibition, Oxford, OH.