Gwen Oulman Brennan earned a BFA at the University of Iowa in painting in 1998. Gwen taught drawing and painting at the high school level and latter had a small painting business in Chicago. After moving to St. Louis she studied Painting at Fontbonne University where she earned an MFA in 2006. As the subject of Gwen’s work became less about the imagery and increasingly more about the materials she was using in her paintings she began to explore small metalwork. Her painting materials ranged from concrete and metal to silk and glycerin. Her instructors at Craft Alliance opened the door to working with metal which inspired her to apply to graduate school to further study Jewelry + Metalsmithing. Gwen completed her masters degree at the Rhode Island School of Design in the spring of 2009.

Artist Statement