She completed her undergraduate studies at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris and at the Parsons School of Design and earned an MFA at the Université du Quebec à Montreal.

Originally from Montreal, Jennifer Macklem is an associate Professor of Sculpture and Drawing at the University of Ottawa, following a tenured position at Mount Allison University in New Brunswick. Volunteer work includes workshops in Pondicherry and Varanasi, India and at the Catholic Center for Immigrants in Ottawa. She has taught visual art in France and in several colleges and universities in Canada.

Her public art, sometimes produced as part of a team, can be seen at Mirabella Condos Gardiner Expressway Toronto (“ Motion in Air (ma)” ; the Chapel Hill Park and Ride (Pathways/reseaux, City of Ottawa public art), in Quebec (L’Envol), the University of Toronto (Dragonfly), Calgary Airport (Fossil Floor), at the Moncton City Hall Plaza (Waveflow), at the Kelowna Regional Library (Natural Language and Biodiversity Bench), and in Whistler (Sightlines).

Exhibitions include: Foire papier, Imago Mundi, Onsite Gallery,Toronto, Palazzo Loredan, Venice ( Benetton Collection); The Jaipur Kala Chaupal at Jaipur Kala Kendra, India; the Art Gallery of Outremont (solo, Montreal); Salle Alfred Pellan (solo, Laval, Quebec); St Margarets House Chapel Cinema Space, (London, UK ); University of Waterloo Art Gallery, Ontario; Galerie d’art de l’UQAM; the Beaverbrook Provincial Art Gallery, New Brunswick; the Kelowna Art Gallery (solo); the White Box Gallery, New York City; Point B,Brooklyn; Roosevelt University, Chicago; The String Room Gallery at Wells College, NY; Centre d’Art Actuel Circa, Montreal (solo); Galway Centre for the Arts, Ireland; Centre for Art Tapes, (Halifax); Access Gallery (solo, Vancouver); The Musée Nationale du Quebec, (Quebec city); Galerie Eric Devlin (solo); Gallery Ernst Higler, Vienna (solo)