Creative Edge - Broussard To Tell 5648,8921

Jennifer Broussard was born and raised in Texas with thirty-four first cousins, eating crabs and crawfish, and "swimming as much as possible until our parents had to make up scary stories to get us back on land."

One of Jennifer's early inspirations came from her sister's early childhood friend, Sally Gall, who traveled to Europe to become a photographer. Sally sent home a handmade book full of photos and stories of her travels - a book that fit neatly into Jennifer's small young hands, and that fired her girlhood imagination.

"Twenty-five years later, when I was handing my two sold art pieces over to an art collector, I told him that story," says Jennifer. "We were both surprised to find that he owned four of Sally Gall's photographs. So now our work is in the same collection!"

Jennifer majored in photography at Sam Houston State University. There, she met her first mentor, Dale O'Dell. One afternoon, she walked into the on-campus photo-lab and noticed a group of people all gathered around O'Dell, who had some of his new photographs placed in front of him. As Jennifer stretched over the crowd to see, she remembers commenting out loud; "That's what kind of work I want to do." She subsequently transferred to The Art Institute of Houston, where by another act of fate, O'Dell became her teacher. At that point, Jennifer knew she was on track, and that something special was happening to her.

Jennifer completed her formal education at the Art Institute of Houston in 1985, gaining a degree in photography. She has since attended many seminars, classes and gathered many insights from her peers within the fine art and photographic fields.
Jennifer has lived in Hawaii, Germany, London, and spent time in New York City.