Can Spring Be Far Away?

In Susan Hensel Gallery

Where We Come From: Our Stories as Art

with Jennifer Schultz, fiber and fabric artist

You are invited to a special event:

WHERE WE COME FROM

March 16-18, 2018

Reception, Friday, March 16, 7-9pm

"Where We Come From" is an exhibit of small books created by artists from Buffalo, MN, as well as book works by Jennifer A. Schultz. Each explores the ways in which landscape--the physical place we live, the places people come from--helps determine our identity.

Buffalo artists participated in two book-making workshops taught by Schultz at Wright County Historical Society in August of 2017. This activity was made possible by an Artist Initiative Grant from the Minnesota State Arts Board.

Jennifer will exhibit more of her own works in the windows through mid-May.

Reception: Friday, March 16,7-9 pm

Fabric is personal; it is tactile, infused with physical presence, sensual. It can be sculpture, drawing and painting at once.

The visual world is layered, the city in particular. Evidence of human occupation is everywhere, sometimes disrupting organic activity (trees, grass, rivers), sometimes enhancing. Layers indicate narrative: a history, a timeline of cause and effect. I create my work in layers to suggest a story, or a poetic moment in time. I am trying to evoke the resonant in human experience, working with subjects such as alcoholism, ageing, depression, hunger, forgiveness, religion and desire. I also want nature to obliterate those human concerns, burying our dramas in a heap of autumn leaves, a flood, or a swamp. I think a pile of dirty laundry is a rather beautiful thing (until there's no clean laundry left anyway.)

I work in fabric and paper, exploring layers of meaning and conflict in common objects - quilt, book, household linens etc. Art quilts - sewn and quilted fabric works - are my main focus. I also create prints, collages, artist books, encaustic paintings and digital art. In addition to commercial fabrics I use found textiles, scraps of cloth or industrial materials retrieved while I walk and bike in the city. I dye some of my materials using organic ingredients, "eco-prints" (the use of organic materials to print directly on fibers), and commercial dyes. Digital transfers, custom fabric printing, hand and machine-stitching are often included.

There is some traditional piecing of fabrics in my work, though the overall process tends to be additive, in much the same manner as collage. I frequently use printed or hand-dyed organza to create layers that will trap light, obscure certain details, or enhance an image with hologram-like overlays. I try to convey a strong sense of the maker's hand at work, primarily through hand-stitching. I am interested in the traditional purposes and history of cloth objects, and want to convey a sense of history and age in my work, with weathering, layers, enhanced wear, and mended or deconstructed elements.