Featured CVCC Artist - Jennifer Choate
Jennifer Choate knew early on that she was an artist. Being from a family of artists and designers will tend to do that to you. Starting from an early age, she was not only drawing to represent the world around her but also engaged in a whole range of artistic production, from designing and sewing dolls’ clothes to sculptural constructions. Taking art classes was a natural part of her primary education as a young person as well. Like a lot of artistic high school students from central Virginia, Jennifer noticed the painting and drawing classes at CVCC that are an integral part of the core classes in the Communication Design program. Naturally these classes were of interest to her, and they drew her to the program.
After she entered the Communication Design program, Jennifer soon came to realize that her love of art could actually be a career, and that is what happened. After finishing her studies at CVCC (she not only got her degree in Communication Design but also stayed an extra year to earn her General Studies degree), Jennifer launched right into her design career starting her own freelance business, JBinger Art and Design. She also became an in-house designer for Stimulus Advertising (Formerly Axis Creative Network), a well-known Lynchburg creative agency headed by Lynn Kirby, himself a graduate of CVCC’s Communication Design program. She also took her education a step further by finishing her Bachelor’s Degree in Communications at Liberty University. All of that early success has been built on with her current position, Senior Creative Design Manager at the Virginia Candle Company. Jennifer literally has her hand on the creative work flow from start to finish; she works on concept development, designing the products and their packaging, and is involved in everything from the scent and color of the candles to the way they are displayed.
When asked to recollect on her time at CVCC in the Communication Design program, Jennifer says that she feels like the emphasis on fundamentals and the teaching of core artistic principles gave her a solid foundation for her design work. “CVCC really taught me that design does not come from a cool drop shadow or Photoshop effect.” Jennifer also notes that the faculty at CVCC and the courses they taught enabled her to become a designer with a strong background in a variety of areas. “I felt like the faculty really stayed true to setting a good design foundation. With those basics put into place, along with a focus on the history of art, design, photography, color and typography (along with the evolution of the Mac/software technology) it really allowed me to become a stronger designer.”
For those students interested in a career in the arts, Jennifer has some advice. She says a solid grounding in the fundamentals is very important, and keeping current with technology and trends is also necessary. “ I don’t think you can get one education for design and be done. It is a lifetime process to follow trends and keep up with the technology.”
Jennifer Choate’s work appeared in the 2004 edition of Polis.
— John Lofaso
