Hanging With Jen Wright
by Kathleen Downey
Jen Wright
Even if you haven’t bumped into Jen Wright downtown, you’ve likely seen sign of this high-energy, creative perpetual multitasker whose artwork accents Newburyport’s cityscape. In fact, you’ve probably seen many signs. Wright is a Port sign maker. Her signature artwork hangs from a pizza parlor (The Upper Crust); a seafaring edifice (Maritime Museum); a church (Immaculate Conception); a landmark bank (Institution for Savings); a city park (Brown Square); a lighthouse built in 1873, popular for its panoramic and intimate dining (Newburyport Rear Range Lighthouse); and an island eatery (Plum Island Grille). And she recently created and donated the sign for Jeanne Geiger Crisis Center. The aforementioned is only a sampling of establishments with a Jen Wright sign hanging from their shingles. Inside her studio on a gray weekday afternoon, Wright puts the finishing touches on one of her newest sign creations, “eat cake!” Her remark that the popularity of her signs has been mostly through “word of mouth” becomes richly apropos.
Wright has operated Jen Wright Signs for more than 20 years, the last 16 years at her Water Street location. Except for her own colorful sign that hangs from her business (a depiction of individual paint buckets, with colors so luscious, the temptation is to stick your finger into each bucket), the small building that houses her studio is paradoxically nondescript. But the one-room studio itself is a fountainhead of creativity, imagination, and structured chaos. Much, perhaps, like Wright.
The Butera School of Art graduate says modestly, “I think I possess a certain creativity that lets me create signs that are more than just vinyl.” Wright adds, “I like to create signs that are just a little bit different than the ‘common’ sign that you might see.”
She is also pragmatic. “I studied sign painting because I wanted to find a creative way to make a living; I didn’t want to be a struggling artist,” Wright states. With her friend and Plum Island neighbor Tracey Smith assisting in the studio, Wright’s chosen career is clearly, comfortably, and colorfully her niche.
Wright credits Smith with the creative branding aspect of the signage. (She also divulges that Smith is the “pretty model” in an ad for Plum Island Soap Company.) “I never thought I’d find a person to work with me who I got along so well with,” Wright says. “We come to work, work hard, and laugh a lot!” The two island women are also one another’s surfer buddy.
“I love to be outdoors,” states Wright. “Nature inspires me.” She is awed by the beauty that surrounds her on Plum Island, where she’s lived with her husband and son since 2006. Her husband is Mike Morris, whose interest in oceanography provided him with the foundation to put together a comprehensive study on Plum Island beach erosion that he presented to the Army Corps of Engineers in 2008. He had also received a little nudge from his wife, who was serving as a Newbury selectman at that time.
“Being a selectman helped me to be more organized,” Wright reflects on her three-year term (2006-2009). “It forced me to be prepared, to do my homework, be aware of what’s going on in my community, and to realize that there are many perspectives on an issue. I learned to be more flexible.”
There’s something else about Wright: she is a race car driver. “Yes, I have my own BMW 325,” she proudly states. Wright and her husband race in Loudon, NH, during the summer months and teach race driver hopefuls how to hug the track without crashing. Not-so-coincidentally, Wright’s husband owns BMW Performance on Middle Road in Newbury; Jen met Mike there when she brought her car to him for repair. “I enjoy the focus, the competing, and the rush of adrenalin,” Wright says of the sport she’s been at since 1999.
Wright’s son Hans, a student at the prestigious preparatory school Berwick Academy in Maine, thinks it’s pretty cool that his mom drives a race car. “Other than that,” Wright laughs, “he thinks I’m a PITA.”
Among her other pastimes, Wright lists water-skiing, downhill skiing, hiking, and biking (including stationary biking: Wright is a Spin instructor at the YWCA), tennis, and travel. “I love exploring other cultures,” Wright says. During a stay in Africa, she taught French at a private high school.
Animals, she says, are one of her greatest passions. “I love animals!” Wright effuses. She recently adopted a 19-year-old horse named Maggie, whom she is boarding at a private home in Newbury. “It’s so nice to have a horse again,” Wright says. She nonchalantly mentions that she was a part of the U.S. Equestrian team, based in Hamilton, MA, where Wright moved to as a young girl from Alberta, Calgary.
She also loves to cook, would love to live in Italy some day, and thinks it would be fabulous to take a group of kids on an Outward Bound adventure, capitalizing on her experience leading workshops for Newburyport Youth Services.
But for the time being, the Canadian expatriate describes her ideal day. “I wake up, enjoy a good cup of coffee, walk or hike on the island, read a bit, and in the evening, sit by a campfire.”
“Is that enough?” Wright asks as she swivels her chair to face me. She has been working nonstop since we started chatting, having prefaced the interview by saying that she didn’t really consider herself very interesting. But Jen Wright is really pretty cool.
Kathleen Downey is the Features Editor for Newburyport Today. If you are a townie or a citizen who would like to be profiled (or to suggest someone to profile), please email: Kathleen@Newburyport-Today.com.
