Friday, May 27, 2011

Leslie Tucker Jenison - San Antonio, TX

1.  What do you call yourself - art wise? A mixed media textile artist.
2.  How do you jump start your creativity when you are in a slump? I shift gears and work in another medium.  Often, spending time looking at things and photographing them will open something up for me.  I'm never at a loss for ideas, but sometimes get stuck as to how to interpret them.    
3.  If money wasn't an issue, what would you do with your art?   I would travel to far-flung places to soak in the differences in culture.  I would divide my time between traveling, working in my studio, and teaching.  One thing informs the others.
4.  Do you keep a sketchbook, journal, etc.?  Yes, I keep several types of sketchbooks:  I use one in a sort linear way, making notes to myself about creative ideas, sketches of pieces I intend to work on.  I carry a smaller, "moleskin-type" of journal when I travel, where I write things about the experience, tape in museum stubs, restaurant cards, and a variety of ephemera to memorialize the experience.  I use another book to keep surface design notes about fabric dyeing and various processes.  Finally, I have a larger journal that I use for life-drawing.
5.  Where can people see your other work this year?  This has been a busy year for me:  I have contributed work to two different mixed-media books that will be released in 2012.  I just finished taping a surface design workshop dvd for Interweave, which will be offered for sale sometime later this summer or early fall.  I taped a television segment for Quilting Arts TV Series 800 during the International Quilt Festival in Cincinnati.  As to my personal work:  I participated in a fundraising event for the American Cancer Society, and I created a 3-dimensional structure that is part of a collaborative "artist village" which we hope will be juried into Tactile Architecture this year.  I am working on several textile constructions at the moment.  I am honored to have work that is traveling with SAQA Creative Force 2010 which will be shown at the International Quilt Festival, Long Beach.  I hope to have work in World of Beauty, 2011, but that remains to be seen!
6.  Do you teach?  where?   Yes, I taught at the International Quilt Festival in Cincinnati, and will be teaching at the festivals in Long Beach and Houston.  I will be teaching at the CREATE! mixed media retreat in Chicago in August 2011.  I also teach occasionally at a local quilt shop,when time allows.
7.  Is there a particular artist who had influenced you in your art life? and why?     I don't believe I can narrow it down to one.  I am generally influenced by the late 19th and early 20th century painters.  On a more personal level, I think there are four artists who turned the course of direction in my work:  Debra Lunn, Nancy Crow, Jane Dunnewold, and Hollis Chatelain.  Each of these artists has taught me a great deal, either by example or from direct interaction, or both.  I have learned a great deal from each of them.
8. Where or what show do you hope your work will be in someday?   I would be thrilled to have work juried into Quilt National and Visions.
9.  Describe your studio workspace.  I work in two different studios.  I have a large home studio that is not ideally configured for wet (surface design) work, so I have the good fortune of sharing studio space with several artists at Art Cloth Studios.
10.  What 3 tools could you not live without?  My sewing machine, my silk screen, and my imagination.
11.  What drives you to make the work that you do?  I have a series of stories to tell.  I am fortunate to be able to tell them through words, cloth, and paper.
12.  How do you balance your life?   Always challenging, this equation has become much easier for me in the past several years as my children have grown and left home.  Since my husband is equally passionate about his pursuits it is easy to be supportive of one another.  The scale is never truly balanced:  sometimes one side needs more time and energy than the other. Family is always my highest priority.
http://leslietuckerjenison.blogspot.com/
http://sketchbookchallenge.blogspot.com/

1 comment:

  1. Leslie is even more interesting in person than you can tell in this interview. Such a kind lady, as well as a wonderful artist!

    ReplyDelete

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