Oregon-raised Jennifer Harwell, a self-taught painter, emerged on an unlikely art scene in Birmingham, Alabama in 2005. The imagery and mood of her works draw heavily on memories of her picture-book 1960s upbringing… raised by a family of artisans (her father, a printer and her grandmother, a dress designer) against a spectacular landscape that was to become Oregon wine country.

Those impressions, as I rode endlessly on my bike as a child, or played with fabric from my grandmother's scrap box, left a grand life stamp.

Harwell didn’t begin painting on canvas until 2005, at age 49, but her progress was quick. The next year, she opened a small shop-front in Homewood where she painted, sold her works, and launched a highly successful series of painting classes. Nowadays, she operates a busy gallery in Downtown Birmingham's Regions Harbert Plaza and jenniferharwellart.com, Alabama’s largest (and most-visited) arts website.

From the beginning Jennifer Harwell has encouraged others to practice art filled living and has restored hope to blocked and struggling artists. Her goal is to build confidence, courage and dreams through art. Since 2007 jenniferharwellart has been a center for artists to congregate and this has helped strengthen and energize artistic passions in a provide a form of "preventative medicine" for those involved in the arts.