Utah State University, Class of 2004 

Jennifer Suflita began keeping sketchbooks her junior year in high school--the same year she began entering art shows. "Don't worry," she adds,."I was rejected plenty of times, which was probably a good start for me, [because it] taught me the reality of the field I was going into, and to be determined enough to enter more."

Before coming to USU, Jen spent a year at BYU, where she rented a studio in an old warehouse. "I didn't make any exceptional pieces," she says, "but I worked a lot and became more dedicated to the life of an artist." Coming to USU, Jen says, "has been awesome . . . . Every student that I have worked closely with has a very individual body of work, which is uncommon [in Utah] universities."

Jen supplemented her BFA at Utah State with a minor in family and human development, and she became interested in "languages and social and economic issues." Jen lived in Trujillo, Peru, for several weeks, where she immersed herself in learning Spanish and found that she wanted to "travel much more, to meet people in different cultural contexts and increase [her] understanding of what is happening in the world."

"I love art," Jen reiterates. "I love that my chosen life path is one of expression and exploration into human experience. I know that I have been moved and impressed with pieces of art, and I hope to be able to enrich and add to this world through the things that I create . . . . One of the best things about being an artist, as opposed to many other professions, is that my 'career-path' is not well-defined. Every life experience I have contributes to my self and therefore my artwork as well."

Jen plans to attend graduate school, where she will earn her MFA.