![\"\"](\"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/files\/2019\/03\/jennifer-rosengarten-20827_021-508x321.jpg\")
<\/a>Jennifer Rosengarten, who received her bachelor\u2019s degree in painting from Wright State, was commissioned to create paintings for Miami Valley Hospital South. (Video by Kris Sproles \/ photo by Erin Pence)<\/p><\/div>\n
Rosengarten grew up in Beavercreek and remembers getting her first set of oil paints when she was in first grade. She also remembers being mesmerized by a reproduction of Van Gogh\u2019s sunflower painting that hung on the kitchen wall.<\/p>\n
\u201cI used to just stare at that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
When Rosengarten enrolled at Wright State, she declared economics as her major. But that quickly changed after she took a drawing class and won a scholarship that led to her bachelor\u2019s degree in painting<\/a> in 1989.<\/p>\n Rosengarten said Wright State was hugely influential and gave her a solid grounding in drawing, painting, color and techniques.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd the teachers were really wonderful and supportive,\u201d she said. \u201cA lot of the students got into really excellent graduate schools. I couldn\u2019t be more pleased or grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n After graduation, Rosengarten worked on her portfolio, won a scholarship to Boston University and in 1993 earned her master\u2019s degree in painting. She later lived in Providence, Rhode Island, before moving to Taos, New Mexico, where she resided for three years.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t not paint the sky there,\u201d she said. \u201cIt gave me a sense of expanse.\u201d<\/p>\n But Rosengarten was lured back to Ohio by its green and vibrant landscapes. Over the next 12 years, she taught painting and drawing, mostly at the University of Dayton. She recently transformed her garage into a studio that enables her to create large paintings.<\/p>\n \u201cI work large and I love working large,\u201d she said. \u201cI can throw up that big door and all the light comes in. Our house is surrounded by green.\u201d<\/p>\n Rosengarten was introduced to the Miami Valley Hospital South project as a member of The Contemporary Dayton (Visual Arts Center). A donor selected and sponsored her work.<\/p>\n To meet the deadline, Rosengarten worked on the three paintings 12 to 15 hours a day seven days a week. She finished them in 10 weeks.<\/p>\n Rosengarten wants hospital patients and visitors to be enveloped by the paintings and to be moved by the sense of color, light, movement and peace. She says the art looks much different now than it did in her garage studio.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you actually see it on a clean wall without all the paint cans and clutter around,\u201d she said, \u201cyou think, \u2018That\u2019s not so bad.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Jennifer Rosengarten, who received her bachelor\u2019s degree in painting from Wright State, was commissioned to create paintings for Miami Valley Hospital South. Continue reading