Full Article for FilzFun

photo: Moja Ma’at; Felt Dresses by Jenne Giles; Styling by Angelica Garde; MUA by Kenya of Ruby Envy; Hair by Diana Regua; Models: Monika & Sara

Here is the original material for FilzFun 35 by Marion Kaesmayr & myself.  It was such a fun interview to respond to and Marion did a marvelous job translating, editing, and laying out the text with images from a photoshoot we did in North Beach for the printed magazine (which is beeea-utiful!).  As is natural, some lovely bits were cut from the final printed article in the interest of space.  Without further ado, here is the full text.

Who is Jenne?

(tell us something about your life and work and so on…)

 I am a feltmaker in San Francisco.  I have lived in California for 12+ years.  Prior to that, I lived for many years in the cities of Austin and Houston, in the state of Texas.  Houston is where my family lives and where I went to university, studied art history, and fell in love with sculpture.  At the time, I was working with welding machines, flame torches, and hammers to make biomorphic sculptures which combined vegetable and human forms out of steel.

When I moved to California in 1999, I continued to work primarily in metal as a sculptor and installation artist.  For example, one early project was a 17-foot tall ribcage made from steel pipes that was built to resemble a birdcage.  A swing hung down from the center so that a person would sit where the heart should be, simulating a heartbeat when swinging.   During this creative period, I also made many costumes.  Through the ephemeral medium of costuming, I could play with self-expression, spontaneity, street theater, and evolving themes & characters.  Often the challenge was to make a costume from scratch in 24 hours or less.  Working on a tight deadline can be a great way to unlock your creative expression because there is little time for fussing.  I made colorful costumes and mixed-media metal sculptures for many years and enjoyed this time of unbridled creative exploration.

 

From 2000-2005, I apprenticed in a metal workshop where we made architectural elements for homes such as fancy railings or staircases. During the apprenticeship, I learned many professional trade skills including how to run a small business, manage a production shop, and contract for jobs, as well as the many intricate techniques for creating top-quality finished work.  After some time, I became increasingly concerned about the health implications of working in metal, so I decided to start my own business.   The only problem was that I did not know what to do!

 

I began to look for a new medium that could combine my love for color, sculpture & costuming, allow me to meet crafty & artistic people, and work with non-toxic materials.  That is how I discovered feltmaking.  Since then I have been felting up a storm and building a business around making wearable art.

 

Spiritually, I am a bit of an avant-gardist that likes to make unexpected things of beauty.   I relish that genuine moment of surprise, both in myself and in others. 

 

Where in the world are you living?

 My studio is located in San Francisco, in the neighborhood where the clothing company Esprit was first started.  It is a colorful part of town with much industry, art, fashion and design going on.  I recently married and we moved our home to Oakland, which I love very much.

 

 

When did you decide to become a artist?

 The art bug bit me early in life.  Through difficult periods, it has always been a safe place where I could go for refuge & growth.  I was fortunate to be accepted into a Magnet Arts High School in 1990, where studying visual art became the foundation of my learning and personal development.  It was wonderful to be in a place where one was appreciated for one’s individuality and not harassed for being different.  Since then, I have been dedicated to the arts throughout my adult life in one form or another,

 

 

What made you choose the materials that you work with?

 Wool & felting are very versatile, so I think this is why I choose to work principally with wool.  However, I still consider myself to be a mixed-media artist, with an open mind to all materials.  Because felting moves so fluidly between painting and sculpture, the wool medium has been an excellent jumping-off point for mixed-media work.

 

My business is built around wearable art pieces with a fashion/design sensibility, so “wearability” plays an important role in choosing materials.  A good design will not only look good but will be comfortable to wear.  Therefore, I choose very fine wools and enjoy blends that include fibers such as bamboo, silk, or tencel, for their special look and feel.   I also enjoy working and responding to exotic materials like yak, cashmere or camel, imagining the history, places, and wonderful creatures that these materials come from. 

 

What other materials would you like to work with in?

 For my wearable work, I am fascinated by some of the new fibers that are just coming to market such as those made from pineapple or milk.  I am also interested in new fabrics for nuno felting and have lately enjoyed working with stretch materials.  Recently, magnets have been a fun venue for experimentation and I continue to explore the variety of zippers, buttons, threads, etc, that make a felt garment functional and give it a professional finish.

 

For my fine art work, I am currently exploring felt and its relationship to painting.  I have a strong desire to pursue more sculptural ideas and hope that my path will send me in that direction soon.

 

 

Which technics do you prefer?

 I prefer nuno felting, as I can make lighter pieces with more focus on design rather than structure.  I love working with resists, which offer the challenge of a 3-dimensional product and subtle design variations, and blocking, which can give a clean, finished body to a felt work. 

 

Where do you get your inspiration from?

 I like to think about the unexplored space between things and to “connect the dots” that have not been connected yet.  Many projects begin with “has it been done yet in this way?” or “this would be an awesome combination!” or maybe if I try this….,” and then seeing what happens.  There is certainly a spark of inspiration but there is also much learned in the process of doing.

 

To me, this artistic process is about sensory awakening:  being open to the world through your senses by truly seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting or touching.  When your mind is open and your senses are fully engaged, you can experience the world as it is: rich with variation, mystery and surprise.  Felting is an excellent way to embrace the unexpected and to move through the creative process from inspiration to discovery (and back again).

 

Personally, I am inspired by geometry, color, form, structure, design, surprise, poetry, nature, perception, and the irresistible impulse to interact with the great big mess of it all.

 

What motivates you?

 The desire to create and to be creative; the desire to be involved and to interact with others; and the desire to connect things and to learn.

 

Do you create your work in a studio  or a home base?

 For the first 2 years, I worked out of my home.  I sloshed many wet, sloppy projects through our living room to get them from my small working space to the rolling machine outside.  I commandeered the shower, bathtub, and sink for many years in our tiny apartment.  “Where there is a will, there is a way” they say, but the carpeting did suffer.

 

In 2007, I moved into a studio space.  My husband and I built it ourselves, putting up walls and shelves and installing doors and sinks.  I even overcame my personal phobia of plumbing- a big triumph!  It is nice to have a space of my own where I can go to be creative.  It has also been very important to have the dedicated space for running my business in an organized way….or at least as organized as creative spaces can be. 

 

 

Crafts in the 21th Century, what does it means to you?

 A very interesting question!

 

I believe that craft offers an antidote to much of what we are experiencing in the 21st Century.  This era is identified as being the Information Age, with the internet tying us all together and allowing us access to infinite information.  The plus side of this is that there is vast wisdom now available to most people; the downside is that it can be an intellectual-overload where we become lost in the sheer volume of information. 

 

Many hours can be spent in front of a computer screen absorbing information, but it is not until we apply that information through doing that we truly learn it.  In fact, one could argue that we learn so much more in the doing of things (using our hands, minds and senses in concentrated effort), than we could ever learn through reading/studying alone. After all, as humans we are the “tool-makers” who learn by working with our hands—this is how we build skills, learn, express ourselves, think creatively, and develop as individual people.

 

Craft is inclusive and it brings us together. Everyone can master a craft.  Everyone has something to contribute to craft.  So, individually, craft offers us new ways to learn, to be productive, to be involved, and to appreciate the work of others.  Combined with the internet, craft allows people to interact and form communities, both locally and internationally.  Therefore, being involved with a craft is an antidote to the separation and loneliness that many experience in the Information Age.  So on a larger level, craft empowers people, creates community, generates economies, and generally makes this a more peaceful and respectful world.  

 

Add to all of this that craft is historically related to the small-scale production of goods, and this makes modern-day crafting a good remedy for living in the global, big-business world where our day is filled with fast-moving, anxious advertising to buy the latest must-have item from generic, impersonal box stores.  Craft is a way to make things that allows us the option to contribute in a personal way rather than to consume.  It is an opportunity to slow down and enjoy, making life more satisfying.

 

In my opinion, the more craft we have in the world, the better the 21^st Century world will be.

 

How do you sell and promote your work?

 I first started my business in 2005 through a local arts-business program in San Francisco.  This helped me write my business plan and gave me access to a local marketplace for selling my goods.  This early experience allowed me to develop my products and to hear feedback from the public, which helped me to improve.  I did this for a few years until I had learned the basics: making and selling my feltwork, running the business, and refining my particular “voice” (or defining my “brand” as it is called in marketing).

 

After that, I showed at many of the national craft shows in the US.  This allowed me to practice my craft at a more professional level.  Each year has offered new and changing opportunities for growth.  I win some, I lose some, but the most important thing is being out there.  By doing shows, I meet new people and visit new places.  By having an online presence, I can meet people all over the world and can be easier to find.

 

My advice would be to try different things and keep challenging yourself.  If the goal was just to sell a lot, there are many better business models for doing that.  For me, running a small craft-based business allows me to pursue the goals of personal and artistic growth coupled with the opportunity for new experiences.  These goals have a value that cannot be measured in money alone.  I believe that a big secret of marketing is that you will discover your market and your message through the process of discovering yourself.

 

What’s your typical working day like?

 First off, I get up and make a strong espresso. 

 I like to work on the computer in the morning: reading the news, catching up with email, and working on writing projects such as my blog (http://feltworks.wordpress.com).  I spend some time with my husband in the morning and drink a healthy fruit-vegetable juice.  Sometimes we go for a morning walk around the lake that is near our house.

 

Next, I drive or take the train from Oakland to my studio in San Francisco.   When I am in the studio, the first thing I do is turn on my electric kettles and music.  I take care of any office stuff that needs doing or any packaging and shipping that should go out.  Then I can start felting.   

 

A felting day, for me, is one of two things: either making creative projects/experiments or doing production.  If it is a creative day, I like to be able to be fully immersed in the moment.  If it is a production day, then my mind is focused on producing my pieces efficiently and beautifully.  I don’t like to switch gears between the two.

 

When I am making creative pieces, I am venturing into new territories and playing with the wool and colors in new combinations.  This I do to design new production pieces or to make unique items for art projects, whether it is a dress, a painting or a sculpture.  When I do production, I am repeating the same steps to make a particular design over and over again.  This can have a nice Zen to it, as I get lost in the rhythm of making.  Both are very interesting ways of working and have their own state of being and ways of interacting with materials and tools.  Perhaps each process uses different parts of the brain….all I know is that I make a mess when I try to do both on the same day.

 

 

What is your working style?

 I would describe my working style as a shotgun approach: taking risks and making many things.  Then I look at what I have made, harvesting the good from the bad.  If there is something really promising, it is time to develop the product further by refining the look, fine-tuning the process of making the piece, or by exploring combinations of other materials & colors.  I take many notes and keep track of variations in case I need to recreate them again.  It is an organic process where many branches are growing at once and occasionally they bear fruit.

 

 

3 words of advice for an Textile Artist?

 experiment, listen, persevere.

 

Do you have a colour you love most?

 I love all colors.  They are like musical notes and it is their combination that is most enchanting to me.

 

Who is your favourite artist?

 Nick Cave, a textile artist who makes wearable sculptures that are brought to life in performance.

 

Which artist do you want to meet?

 If of all time, perhaps Leonardo De Vinci, Marcel Duchamp, or Fridha Kahlo. 

 

What music do you listen to?

 I like the Orb for working in studio.  We call it “Spa Music.”

 

Three likes and dislikes?

 I like:

 

pistachio ice cream

warm, fuzzy, dry socks

spending time with family & friends

 

I dislike:

 a mess

bullies

intolerance

 

 

What do you do to relax?

 My favorite thing to do is travel, whether it is taking a trip to a local hiking trail, visiting another culture through cooking, or taking a mental vacation by reading a good book.  I find all of these things relaxing in their own way.

 

 

Do you plan a exhibition, book-project or something like this?

 In 2010, I published a book called Felt Fashion: Couture Projects from Garments to Accessories with the help of a production team from Los Angeles.  When the producers first asked me to write a book, I did a lot of soul-searching about whether I had something worthwhile to contribute, especially when there are so many great felting books already available.   At the time, I was learning much about pattern-making, couture sewing & garment construction and I felt there were many unexplored opportunities to combine these techniques with feltmaking.  At the very least, the Felt Fashion book could bridge two disciplines: sewing for feltmakers and feltmaking for sewers.  To this end, I took a wide range of feltmaking skills (basic to advanced) and sewing/patternmaking skills and blended them together to make 24 different projects, each designed to teach specific skills.  I also added techniques and tools for making jewelry and hat-making so that readers could experience those traditions as well. My hope is that readers would have a comprehensive set of feltmaking and sewing skills once they had tried all the projects and that they could then combine these skills to make personalized pieces.

 

Often, in books or in classes, it seems to me as though one must choose a technical approach or a creative one.  I tried to balance the 2, as I really appreciate technical know-how and skill-building but also enjoy a book when it inspires or encourages my creativity.  Further, I wanted to appeal to both a craft-aesthetic of exuberant self-expression and to a fashion-aesthetic that can be more about subtlety, materials, details, and finishing.  I hope that readers will feel it addresses both.

 

I believe that good learners make good teachers and I learned very much about feltmaking by writing Felt Fashion.

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