Artist Spotlight: Featuring Artist Jen Pepin

Pepin is The Event and Education Director

at Cheshire Children's Museum, where she plans, designs and creates venues and

promotional materials for events and exhibits.She consistently excites the

boundless imaginations of children through her creative art style that she brings to

her installations.

Her goal while creating these pieces is to use as many re-purposed items as

possible to create realistic vignettes that inspire imaginative play, create a sense of

place, and provide educational inspiration for both children and their families.Pepin

explains, "The creative challenge is to take ordinary things and make them fun and

educational for several different age groups....The goal is to give each child a little

more of an understanding about a topic, but in a fun visual or tactile way." The

installations are multi-faceted endeavors that explore subjects from multiple learning

styles.

Although Pepin has always been interested in art, what might come as a surprise is

that she majored in math in college.Pepin explained, "I know math is not generally

considered 'fun' by a lot of people, but it can be when introduced through play. I feel

we can blend left and right brain ideas to make both art and math appealing to

children from an early age." This explains Pepin's drive to teach children any

subject through art, and think out-of-the-box while creating her educational

installations.

Pepin hopes to see the arts and culture in the Monadnock Region grow and stay

vital; she believes that in order to do this we need to create a rich culture that

extends beyond our region's natural beauty. Pepin feels that we must fill our region

with music, visual and fine arts, award winning restaurants, outdoor spaces, and

cutting edge activities in order to keep younger families here.

Pepin believes that a vibrant Children's Museum is one of the keys to the vitality of

arts and culture in any region."Each space in the museum provides a taking off point

for a child's creativity. When I see a child healing a sick pet in the Veterinarian area

or taking a plane ride to see kangaroos in Australia, it is an amazing feeling.

Providing a safe, colorful and imaginative space for families to connect is a dream

come true of which I am so grateful to be a part," explains Pepin.

She continuously strives to create more for her community, and plays a key role in

nurturing our children's love of learning. We are proud of her work here in the

Monadnock Region, and can't wait to see what she is going to create next!