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But Fearon is quick to interject
that her personal art, which she
sells more of all the time, is “my
side gig, what I do for fun more
than anything else to try and
make people happy.”
She doesn’t expect to ever
make a real living from her art.
“
And frankly, I never want to
get to a point where I have to
depend on my art to support
myself. Then it’s a job,” she said.
“
Besides, I don’t think I’m good
enough for that.”
Art has been important to
Fearon since she was a child and
became fascinated by the box
of 64 Crayons she got for first
grade. “I just loved all the colors.
I became passionate about it,” she
said. “I grabbed every oppor-
tunity in grade school to do art,
like doing the teachers’ bulletin
boards. I even won a national
coloring contest once when I was
9
or 10.”
And yet in her childhood
home, music was the chief form
of art the family focused on,
largely because her parents
were musicians. Fearon was in
her 20s and a mother of Brea
when she took her first art class,
even though her husband Peter
Fearon, whom she met at Illinois
State University, was an art
student.
“
I was his biggest cheerleader.
But I majored in sociology (in
which she has a master’s degree)
and social work. Peter was the
art superstar. It didn’t occur me
to take art classes until it finally
dawned on me I needed a release
and art was a good vehicle for
that,” she said.
Fearon was a counselor at
Planned Parenthood in Spring-
field and had a second daughter,
Meriah, before she learned she
could get an advanced degree
at ISU in art therapy. “I read
the class description and real-
ized, ‘this is me.’ It was a perfect
marriage of my vocation and
avocation.”
It took three years but Fearon
has become a licensed art thera-
pist and is now in private practice
with Mindock Counseling and
Consulting in Peoria. A visit to
that office at 2000 W. Pioneer
Parkway is another way to see
some of Fearon’s work; at least
one wall of each office is either
original art or a duplicate of a
famous piece. In her own office
she painted a duplicate of the
famous “Starry Night” painting
by Vincent Van Gogh.
Fearon also teaches art part-
time at the Montessori School in
Peoria, which she has done for 11
years “because I love it.” And she
teaches private art classes in her
home studio, including painting,
drawing, clay and paper mache.
She recently hosted at her
home studio and backyard a
Jackson Pollock Splash Party.
Pollock was an American artist
known for creating abstract art
using tools other than brushes,
such sticks, trowels and foreign
A pair of margaritas depicted in this painting is one of Jeanna Fearon’s
favorites because it was inspired by a day she spent with her best friend,
helping her cope with an especially difficult time in her life. “She needed to
laugh. So we took a day off and…well, we laughed. A lot,” said Fearon, who
titled the painting “Girlfriend Day.”
