JEANNE PHILIPPUS
ARTIST

Brokenness is an unavoidable part of life. There’s brokenness all around us. Whether it’s a broken heart, a broken family, a troubled past, a loss, a death, an ailment, an emotional brokenness or just a feeling of not being whole. All of us, at one time or other, have endured the shards of brokenness.
For me, as a young bride, there was a tremendous sense of brokenness when I lost my husband to cancer, after a few short years of marriage and pregnant with our baby. While grieving such a great loss, life continued to throw heartaches and challenges my way, and the compounded brokenness I felt almost destroyed me.

I remember a particular day, during that very dark time, that my pain and emotional brokenness completely overwhelmed me. I couldn’t keep the hurt in any longer. I wanted to inflict the same brokenness and devastation on something else. I grabbed a beautiful glass vase, and I hurled it across the garage. I must admit; It felt great. The physical act of shattering something beautiful was somehow satisfying–cathartic.

Standing in the midst of the destruction that I had caused, with pieces of glass scattered everywhere, I recognized that although it was no longer a vase and never would be again, there was still beauty to be found in the brokenness. It was in that moment that I saw an opportunity to salvage the broken yet still beautiful pieces and create something new, something completely different, something that would be whole again. And that is exactly what I did.

Creating art from broken and discarded materials was a crucial part my healing process. What started as a way of coping with my brokenness has since become a major passion of mine. I‘ve been able to expand and grow as an artist. And my art has taken on a life of its own.
As you experience my art, I hope you can feel the “healing.” I hope you can read the “courage” and “strength,” and I hope you can see the “wholeness.” In art as in life, there is a beauty that can come brokenness.

I grew up around art, as the daughter of an accomplished watercolor artist, where my dad introduced me to art on a daily basis. I took art classes in college and ultimately received my degree in Political Science from the University of Texas, San Antonio. I introduced art to Inner City kids as the Executive Director of The Inner-City Games, Chaired by Arnold Schwarzenegger. I also worked as a consultant and planned large fund-raisers for the community in San Antonio. I have always used my gift of art to incorporate ways to add that special touch to gala’s and fundraisers. Recently, I began expanding on my gift through painting and working with broken glass and I am so passionate about the process and the end results of my work.

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