Jennifer Emswiler is Ohio born and raised. After graduation with her BA in Fine Art from Defiance College, located in small town Defiance, OH, Emswiler moved to Anchorage, AK. While living in Alaska she joined the co-operative art community in Girdwood, a small ski village just south of Anchorage called The Girdwood Center for Visual Arts. She showed a body of nature-themed acrylic paintings, as well as water colored intaglio prints. She held several one-man shows in conjunction with first Fridays in Anchorage, as well as in the Girdwood community. Emswiler departed Alaska in the winter of 2008 where she would begin graduate school in the fall of 2009 at The University of South Carolina. 

During her time at USC, Emswiler developed Neuro Foliage, A body of work depicting mental illness as a chemical change comparable to the chemical changes that occur in the leaves of trees during autumn. She developed her metaphor, comparing the erratic and unstoppable change from autumn to winter to the changes that occur in a person's brain experiencing mental illness. 

Her work has shown in downtown Columbia, SC as a part of the artista vista events, marking a celebration of the arts in its many forms. She currently resides in Columbia, where she is continuously working to express her metaphor in new and exciting forms. 

Neuro Foliage is a body of work combining the idea of brain scan imaging with autumn and winter trees in oil based paint on back-lit canvas. The autumn foliage represent the areas of the brain experiencing high levels of activity, while the winter themed paintings show a lower, darker activity level. Higher levels of activity can indicate a person experiencing extreme emotions, while a person experiencing lower levels may be suffering from depression. Emswiler hopes to give a new perspective to mental illness to help combat the negative stigma surrounding it. With a better understanding, we can work toward normalizing such disorders, making it easier for sufferers to seek help.