Guest Profile

Jerry Wennstrom

Artist, author Jerry Wennstrom was born in New York on January 13, 1950. He attended Rockland Community College and the State University of New Paltz. After producing a large body of work, at age 29 he set out to discover the rock-bottom truth of his life. For years he questioned the limits of his creative life as a studio painter. After destroying all of his art and giving away everything he owned, Jerry began a life of unconditional trust, allowing life to provide all that was needed. He lived this way for 15 years. In 1998 he moved to Washington State, where he eventually married Marilyn Strong and produced a large new body of art. Marilyn and Jerry's charming Whidbey Island home is now filled with his unique interactive sculptures and paintings. Jerry also built a 40-foot meditation tower on his property, which is featured along with his story in a book by Laura Chester called Holy Personal.

Jerry Wennstrom's unusual story is told in his book, The Inspired Heart: An Artists Journey of Transformation foreword by Thomas Moore published by Sentient Publications, in Holy Personal by Laura Chester and in the Parabola Magazine documentary film, In the Hands of Alchemy: The Art and Life of Jerry Wennstrom. There is also a new Sentient Publications DVD with the same name, which includes a second feature film called Studio Dialogue. Studio Dialogue is a presentation Jerry did before a live audience with music by Susan McKeown, sung by Marilyn Strong.

A Second Wind: Art Resurrected, Jerry's newest book, is a retrospective arrangement of beautiful new photographs of Jerry Wennstrom’s artwork, by Seattle architectural photographer, Andrew van Leeuwen, and earlier pictures spanning a period of over 50 years. You'll want this one on your coffee table.

The book’s 248 pages include rescued images of his destroyed paintings; (in 1979) a creative act of liberation and the the turning point of Wennstrom’s life where he gave himself to becoming and living the creation by giving away his possession, abandoning the life of a studio painter, and living a monk-like life for over a decade.

Jerry travels with his wife Marilyn Strong internationally lecturing, teaching, showing the films and presenting their work. He writes a monthly column called Between the Lines for Inferential Focus a New York City consulting firm "Think Tank."