Art Cloth Mastery Program 2012: Teena Jennings

Wrapped in Charmeuse #1, 2014, 21" x 71"

two color shibori with beading on silk charmeuse

Wrapped in Charmeuse #1 - detail

Wrapped in Charmeuse #2, 2014, 21" x 71"

single color shibori and silkscreening with beading on silk charmeuse

Wrapped in Charmeuse #2 - detail

Artist Statement
Recently arriving at the doorstep of the surface design studio, having been a spinner and a weaver for over thirty years, my mind is whirling with the creative opportunities. That being said, there is a part of me that is loath to totally forgo the woven structure that I learned to use as my parameter. Today, I am happiest working with another form of structure, the kind that is inherent in shibori. Shibori offers two potentials to the textile artist – vivid color opportunities as well as the play of deliberate manipulation. On top of that, surprises are inevitable due to folding and color effects that are unexpected. It is the perfect scenario.

Biography

Teena Jennings, a spinner and weaver for thirty years, has always been interested in the structural aspects of cloth. As a participant in the Art Cloth Mastery Program with Jane Dunnewold, Jennings now fully appreciates the potential of surface design processes to exploit the surface of the cloth. This knowledge has allowed her to bring the design process of textiles full circle. Working with dyestuffs has been particularly relevant, as it dovetails with her professional life as a faculty member at The University of Akron, in Akron, Ohio, where Jennings teaches textile science courses, fiber arts, textile history and museology/conservation courses.

The Mastery Program

This exhibition represents three years of intense and dedicated study on the part of the participants. The Art Cloth Mastery Program 2012, in which they were enrolled, required five week long sessions in the San Antonio studio, in addition to demanding assignments which were addressed during the interim periods.

Artists interested in surface design processes are at a disadvantage in this country. Most opportunities for study require either enrollment on site at a university or college, or are offered as week-long workshops through adult education summer programming. The inability to relocate to a program venue inhibits artistic mastery, as does the limited experience of a week’s class without a systematic follow-up.

The Mastery Program was developed to address this reality. The selected participants study surface design techniques on cloth, and also color, design and the articulation of a personal visual language. Each artist is required to develop a research project related to the dyes, chemicals or paints used as part of the patterning palette. Assembled together, these projects will eventually become a catalogue of research to contribute to the surface design field at large.

Professional behavior is also a topic of discourse. Artists prepared a resume, visual documentation, an artist’s statement and a biography as part of the requirement for completion of the program.

This exhibition is a sampling of the finest work being presented by serious students of surface design today. I expect each of these artists will continue to generate studio work for exhibition after the program is completed. Initially, the work of these artists will be a featured exhibition at the international Houston Quilt festival in the Fall of 2014. Later, these artists may choose to extend their circle of influence by teaching. Others may decide to write a book or produce some other lasting contribution to the field. The future is rich with possibility. It has been my great pleasure to accompany them on this exciting path. I congratulate each on the efforts of the past two and a half years.

Art Cloth Mastery Program 2012

Click for details on each artist.

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Teena Jennings

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