COUTURE: Where do you live?

Jennifer Maxwell: Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on an equestrian farm with my husband and a menagerie of pets. Our 6 kids have all moved out, so it is a very quiet home now.

COUTURE: What’s your favorite coffee shop?
JM: I’m a tea girl, but there is the sweetest coffee shop near my studio called Dash. They make life changing London Fogs.

COUTURE: What’s your favorite museum?

JM: I love, love, love the Smithsonian in DC – all of them! My brother went to college in DC, so I spent many summers exploring the museums there. I also cherish any opportunity to sneak away to the Art Institute of Chicago.

COUTURE: What’s your favorite gallery?

JM: Robischon Gallery in Denver is a favorite spot for me. I fell in love with artist Ian Fisher’s cloudscapes there and subsequently commissioned a piece.

COUTURE: What’s your favorite bar to sit and eat by yourself?

JM: “Somewhere” at sunset. Somewhere is a bar in the Turks and Caicos. Many years ago, it was a hidden local getaway with great local artists performing nightly. It’s now more of a tourist spot but you can’t beat the sunsets and rum punch.

COUTURE: What’s your favorite bar or restaurant to hang with friends?

JM: Any bar/restaurant with friends is always a good time, especially after a year of not seeing anyone!

COUTURE: You’re hosting five people for diner, who are they?

JM: Only 5 – ugh! I would invite my dad, who passed in 2009, Desmond Tutu, Bono, Audrey Hepburn, and Amal Clooney. It may be a somewhat serious dinner but so educational. I am a lifelong learner!

COUTURE: What’s your favorite park or outdoor space?

JM: Because we have 52 acres of heavily wooded land at home, I love to take our dogs hiking there. We built our house and farm there 20 years ago, so I feel I have grown up there. I know the trees and critters and love to watch the changes over the seasons and years. We have a herd of deer, a flock of turkeys, foxes, coyotes and a number of other wild critters so it’s an adventure every time I go for a walk.

COUTURE: What’s one thing that isn’t widely known about your home town that makes it special?

JM: We have a saying here “CR Strong.” It’s not very original but it is true. Our community has suffered through a major flood in 2008 and a derecho in 2020. The vast majority of the community was impacted, regardless of race, religion or socioeconomic status. As devastating as these things were the people of Cedar Rapids showed up for each other. We came out in force and we worked alongside each other to ensure our community members had what they needed. We came through each natural disaster stronger and closer to our community members.

On a lighter note, Cedar Rapids is also home to one of the largest cereal manufacturing plants in the US and some days the entire city smells like crunch berries – yay!

COUTURE: What is the first piece of jewelry you fell in love with?

JM: My grandmother did not wear much jewelry, and was a very modest woman, but her wedding ring was the most beautiful thing in the world to me as a child. At the time I didn’t know what it was that made it so different but now I know it was the old mine cut diamonds. To this day I die for old mine cuts!