Edina High School graduate Claire Jensen has been drawing and painting for as long as she can remember. She’s attended the Edina Art Center’s Art Academy program since second grade, where she draws her favorite subject: horses.
Jensen started riding horses at her uncle’s farm in South Dakota when she was 8 years old, and has been riding ever since. She now owns a 10-year-old American quarterhorse named Mama. “My passion for horses and riding overlapped with my passion for drawing and art,” Jensen says.“I enjoy trying to capture a horse’s powerful movement and strength. If you ask my friends, they’ll tell you my favorite part of drawing horses is their muscles.”
Jensen’s hard work and artistic talent has paid off. Her work has won ribbons at the Minnesota State Fair, and she’s exhibited in the Edina Art Center’s Teen Art Show. She plans to continue with art as a hobby while attending Carleton College in Northfield. “If I can invoke that one fleeting moment of liberation or connection that I experience when I’m with horses,” Jensen says, “I consider it a job well done.”
Drawings courtesy of Claire Jensen
