Being on a blog allows us to be virtual socialites, of sorts. The Paris Hilton of the web. We get to meet tons of really cool people who are doing interesting things around the neighborhood. One such person who we were recently introduced to is Jennifer Rasinski aka “Jen One”, a local artist and artisan who’s work will be showcased as part of the “Brooklyn Honors Spike Lee” celebration starting this Thursday, June 25th. (If you did not already know about the Spike Lee celebration, you may want to start getting some extra daily dosages of NostrandPark – see previous post here).

As part of Brooklyn Honors Spike Lee, “We’ve Gotta Have It!” will showcase art from participants worldwide in honor of legendary filmmaker Spike Lee. Jen One’s homage will come in the form of “I Spike BK” t-shirts, a design and creation of her own.

Courtesy of Jen One: “I Spike BK” tees

The tees will also soon be available online through her website, JenOne.org. In the meantime, you can check out her site to view other samples of her work, including illustrations ranging from rapper Lil Wayne, to former Vice Presidential hopeful, Sarah Palin, to the infamous Bernard Madoff.

From her bio:

Courtesy of Jen One: Jen One with her handcrafted pillows

Jennifer Rasinski, aka Jen One, is an artist born in the small, yet urban landscape of Danbury, Connecticut in 1979. She was raised in the rural neighboring town of Brookfield. As she grew older, she frequented NYC’s museums and galleries and was overwhelmed by the streets, decorated with its posters and graffiti. The influences of both environments can be seen throughout her body of work.

Her most early artistic influences were witnessed through the lens of a 16mm film projector. Animations created by her great uncle displayed a remarkable part of her family history. Connie Rasinski created the character Mighty Mouse and a host of other characters for Terrytoons (a New Rochelle NY based animation studio) during the early and mid 20^th century. Exposed to these moving images, she drew in her room and created her own characters and stories.

Eager to see more of the country, she was accepted to Virginia Commonwealth University in 1997. Jen One studied under a multidisciplinary major consisting of Illustration techniques, painting fundamentals and computer graphics. She graduated Magna cum Laude with a B.F.A in Digital Imaging.

Since moving to Brooklyn NY in 2002, Jen One has been showing her work in galleries, boutiques, events and magazines throughout NYC. In 2008, she had the honor of being published for the first time in the Younity book “Heart & Soul.” Currently, she is working on various projects that include pillows for her home accessories line, Vanilla Medallions and movie illustrations for independent film makers.

NP supports local artists!

Click here for an NBC piece with more information about “Brooklyn Honors Spike Lee” (Fyi -Jen One’s artwork is featured around 1:36 of the video). 

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