Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jennifer Jupiter Benorden. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jennifer, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

Both my parents were jazz musicians. I grew up listening to original music, mom playing the piano, my dad playing the drums from a very early age. We heard gospel and jazz on the record player instead of popular music, and it shaped me from a very young age to resonate with improvisation and explosive rhythms, melancholy songs and poetic lyricism.

My mom raised her four children once my parents split, but she kept music central to our lives in every way. She taught music at the public schools and taught piano at home and played piano at church on the weekends. Music infused the very air we breathed and it made each one of us into our own artist in different ways.

All the way until the very end of mom’s life, music was her everything. She continued to compose for piano, write songs, and accompany other musicians, and was preparing to record an album of her original music when she passed away from a sudden accident.

Therefore, I have made it my mission to uplift her music every year for her birthday, keeping her legacy alive.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

As a lifelong musician, I have played in numerous bands, some focusing on my original music, some supporting others in theirs. I am a singer/songwriter, lyricist, percussionist, and am at long last beginning to learn the piano. Many of my songs are handed to me in dream time, and when I awake with a new song in my head I know it holds a potent medicine.

I am a writer and a published poet, and will always digest my life through the lens of the pen, if you will…..

I am a passionate photographer. I have a unique eye for framing images and have begun to sell some of my images as well as do event photography and some outdoor headshots for friends and colleagues.

In my past life i was an accomplished television producer, producing 12 award winning television shows about hard-hitting political and environmental topics, and also produced and directed a short film about composting toilets in Haiti.

And throughout all of this I have cultivated a career in the healing arts, as a massage therapist, shamanic practitioner, and more recently as a board certified health coach. When I am working with a client i feel the privilege of supporting them through these different modalities, and am blessed to be able to blend my creativity into my work through these different approaches.

My problem is choosing how to spend each day as I have so many passions!

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

The arts are the soul of the world.

When you see a beautiful piece of art, a painting, a film, a drawing, or a photograph, it can completely transform you. On any given day when the world feels too overwhelming, one song can open your heart to feel the pulse of life and blossom hope.

There seems to be a schism between the famous artists and the little guys. If society could simply bridge that gap, and minimize the power of celebrity, not to diminish those who have risen to the fore, but rather to maximize the creative river that flows through so many more who may never reach that stature within our collective town hall, it would be so healing for our world.

If art is only valued when it is consumed, does it make a sound when it falls in the forest?

We must learn to appreciate and uplift the creative projects of every artist, like each tree in the forest of the world, important and valuable unto itself….making the forest stronger and more resilient.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I would say it’s the magic of inspiration.

When a song comes into my head, I know it is a gift sent through me, not something I own but rather something crafted from the unique force field that is my life.

Same thing goes with all of my work, drawings which start out seeming so boring and blah but over time take on a life of their own and become something I love to look at — photographs that make me stop in my tracks and grab my camera to capture a particular shadow or light or shape — it is so mysterious, personal yet universal somehow.

I hope to share more of my art, my music, photography, writing, and drawings, in the coming year. I will be sharing more of my art, my music, photography, writing, and drawings, in the coming year.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @jupiterphotoqueen
• Redbubble:  https://www.redbubble.com/people/jenniferjupiter/explore?asc=u&page=1&sortOrder=recent
• Youtube: https://youtu.be/SPPxh-5386s

Image Credits

all photographs and the drawing are by me