About Banbury Customs
Banbury Customs was created by Jay Banbury and Jennifer Wilkins. They saw the need for custom artwork through sentimental creations. Capturing the nature of a loved one, restoring a beloved piece of furniture/artwork, or bringing an antique back to life is the life force to Banbury Customs.
Jay Banbury
Bio:
Jay was raised by two generations of grandparents. One set that grew up during the great depression and the other during world war 2. They both were frugal and creative. They taught him everything can be turned into something else.
His formal education started in 1990 when he was enrolled in private oil painting lessons for a year. He learned landscapes, perspective, and color theory. In 1992 he started working at prinstar printing. He learned commercial aspects of art, layouts, logos, fonts and general printing.
In 1997 he joined the United States Army at the young age of 17. For the first 4 years he was a cannon crewmember or a “gun bunny” as some would say and was promoted to be a track commander of a 109 self propelled howitzer at the age of 19. Because of the influence of his grandfather, who was an explosives expert for 20 years at the phoenix fire department, he changed military occupational specialties to become an army engineer. In the army corps of engineers he learned the ins and outs of civil engineering.
During his service he designed many company logos, t-shirts, murals and tattoo designs. He was involved in several types of trade work including: framing, carpentry, flooring, drywall, painting, plumbing, electrical, concrete, excavation, and roofing.
In 2005 he was enrolled in Idaho State University's fine arts program taking classes such as: Art history, Art theory, Drawing, Painting, and sculpting He took every art class that was available to him. While he was enrolled at ISU, he worked for Ballet Idaho where he learned stage design, stage carpentry, lighting, rigging, props and set changes.
In 2009 he started a tattoo apprenticeship where he learned the ins and outs of the tattoo industry.
In 2011 Banbury Customs started as a hobby, he took commissioned art jobs of all kinds. 2 years later he met me, a circus lady with a 7000 square foot circus training facility called Cirque Asylum that housed 7 instructors and hundreds of circus monkeys in Sandy Utah. We produced Cirque shows, created branded clothing, managed the monstrous studio with 2 other wonderful business partners and filled our family’s life with art.
2019 he moved to Alpine Wyoming to build houses in preparation for his family to join him.
In September 2020 he and his family opened a brick and mortar space for Banbury Customs.
Jennifer Wilkins
Bio:
Stating that Jennifer is extremely passionate about the arts is putting it lightly. From a young age, she has been exposed to a wide variety of art forms such as museums, ballets/dance, theaters/broadways and symphonies to name a few.
She created and maintained a circus arts training facility in Utah that progressed to a 7000 square foot facility, with several disciplines, in house training, 7 instructors and hundreds of students for app 16 years that closed in July 2020. The year prior to closing the studio her other half, Jay Banbury, had been setting up their living arrangements in Star Valley. After moving their family, it didn’t take long for Jennifer to jump at the opportunity to join The Star Valley Arts Council where she became connected to so many like-minded artists in the valley.
She is currently teaching circus arts and mobility/strength lessons at Star Gymnastics in Thayne as well as The Afton Fairgrounds in addition to being the part owner and manager of Banbury Customs. She is thrilled to be a part of a community that are striving to bring art and opportunities for people to become more involved in the arts and support artists in their work.