JENNIFER FEBBRARO was born and raised in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. She began drawing and painting during her undergraduate years at the University of Toronto after viewing an exhibition of Henry Moore's early sketches. This led to several art shows at local Toronto cafes and restaurants, such as Alternative Grounds, the Rivoli, and many others. A fateful barrage of inspiring friendships followed and Febbraro was soon represented by Katherine Mulherin's Bus Gallery. Her first show with Bus launched the 1080 gallery space in 1999. She is currently represented in Toronto by Katherine Mulherin Contemporary Art Projects.
Febbraro creates mixed media paintings with acrylic, charcoal, pastel, pencil, pens, make-up, and most recently, collage with photocopied photos. Each piece begins with a series of mistakes, moves through crisis, and emerges with the feeling of a freshly-solved puzzle. They are agitated stops and starts, narrative spills of private stories, scratched out, rotated, and then attempted to be told again upside down. Recent inspirations include the films Papillon, Little Darlings, and Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, as well as authors David Sedaris, Josef Capek, Carson McCullers, and artists Paula Rego and Larry Rivers.
Alongside painting, Febbraro has alternately worked as a musician, music video collaborator, teacher, journalist, and documentarian. From 1996-1998, she played keyboards, sang, and toured with the Spookey Ruben band. She teaches occasionally with the Toronto District School Board and has written for various publications, including Canadian Women's Studies, Tandem magazine, Foodservice & Hospitality, City Bites, the Globe & Mail, as well as the Food Network and the book "Mamma Mia: Good Italian Girls Talk Back" (ECW Press). Currently, she is working on a video family tree.
