Artist Profile: Leslie Tucker Jenison, co-juror

Leslie Tucker Jenison

San Antonio, Texas 
co-juror www.leslietuckerjenison.com

1. Did the change in dimensions present any specific challenges for you?  I love the size!  I’ve been “working bigger” for the last couple of years so this streamlined perfectly with my current work.

2. Describe your design area, specifically your work table:  what is the best thing about it?  My design area is currently in flux:  I’m in the middle of a studio remodel so I’m in temporary digs upstairs but it seems to be working out.  I have a wonderful adjustable-height table.  It works well as a print and cutting table, and it lowers to a traditional height for use when I am stitching or painting.

3. What set this quilt apart from other recent projects you have been working on?

This quilt is one of my first truly free-cut abstract pieces.  I’m using my rotary cutter in a new way and it pleases me to see the quality of the lines I’m able to draw with it.  I’m shifting and rethinking the way I look at my piecing.

4. When you get “stuck” how do you deal with a “design block”?  How do you overcome it? I try to shift gears and work on something else,  & often I will jump to a different media such as painting.  This usually allows the ideas to bubble to the surface for the piece on the design wall.

5. Do you work on single or multiple projects at the same time? I always have several things in various stages of development.  It makes it easier for me to side-step if I hit a wall during the design process.  Generally, though, I focus on one thing at a time.  I like to have small bits of handwork for traveling.  Someday I might even put all these together!

6. What do you hope people take away from your work? For me, a successful piece is one that draws the viewer in from a distance and beckons them to come closer and closer.  Each piece I make tells part of my personal story:  much of it about my experiences or observations.  I always hope the work starts a dialogue with the viewer, and I think the viewer can decide what it means to her.

7. What are the best parts of working on an art quilt:  What are your least favorite parts? Oh!  There are so many things I love about what I do!  Each part of the process is important to me:  the dyeing and printing, the design and construction, and the quilting.  I love working on quilts because I think of them as “2.5-dimensional” objects.  We have an intimate relationship with textiles.  After all, it is the second thing that touches our bodies from birth!  So we, as humans, relate to textiles in a universal way. Least favorite thing is blocking and getting a straight edge on a large quilt.  It’s hard (for me, at least)!

8. What art/quilt-related organizations do you belong to? I am a juried artist member of SAQA and a board member of the Quilt Alliance.  I also belong to IQA, Art Cloth Network, and I serve on the board for our local chapter of the Modern Quilt Guild.

9. Do you have a preferred color palette?  Why?  Oh goodness.  I think I go in cycles with color or neutrals.  At the moment I’m really in love all of it in the form solids:  both color and neutral.  I am playing with them like paint.  My favorite color is orange & even though I don’t use it a great deal in my work it brings me deep joy….!

10. What do you regard as your most interesting milestones along your art journey? Some of my closest friends have been made because of this amazing subculture of artists.  I don’t know if that counts as a milestone but for me it is one of the most important things related to making quilts.  I’ve been fortunate to be honored with a few awards along the way.  The biggest surprise was winning first place in the digital category in World of Beauty in 2012.  My work has been part of several books and a few magazines.  I can’t express how honored & humbled I feel about all these things and I don’t take any of it for granted.  I have to mention that I am seriously excited about the modern quilt movement. I identify as a contemporary quilt maker because I think it better encompasses everything I create and this movement  is bringing in so many young artists.  Their energy is contagious and I love being around it all!