​Jennifer grew up in New Jersey and began to draw at a very young age. She studied neuroscience at Lehigh University and later attained her Ph.D. from UT Austin in Sociology in 2001 after conducting anthropological fieldwork in Mexico. Although her experience in Mexico was rich, Jennifer longed for artistic creativity. In August of 2001, Jennifer spent a month in Spain, France, and Italy where she saw masterworks that would become her inspiration. Upon returning, she began studying panting and drawing from observation, taking classes at Laguna Gloria Art School and the Austin Fine Arts School leading to further study at the Art Students League in Denver and through various painting workshops. She’s been teaching figure and portrait painting in oils to small groups of students since 2006. In 2018, Jennifer cofounded Atelier Dojo, a realist art academy in Austin, Texas. In 2021, she applied her training to study classical academic methods at Dojo Academy and became the Academy’s director in 2023.  Her work has been exhibited across the United States and in Europe and has been featured in a number of national and international art publications. Her portraits have received awards by the Portrait Society of America; she was awarded “Best Visual Artist” by the Austin Chronicle’s Readers’ Poll and nominated by the Austin Critics Table for Austin’s Best Visual Artist and has had her work juried into “New American Paintings.”  She has had numerous solo shows in the U.S. and a solo exhibition in Ireland.   When not painting, she is adventuring through life with her son Karlo and husband Jeff either on bicycle or unicycle.  Her work can be found at www.jenniferbalkan.net.