Jennifer Falck Linssen
biography |
portfolio | artists listing
b.1971, Indianapolis, Indiana
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2007 Beyond The Basket, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
How to See the Forest through the Trees, Arts Incubator, Kansas City, MO
2006-07 Selected Works, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2006 Sculpture, Objects, Functional Art Exposition, Chicago, IL
Celebrating the Necklace, Mobilia Gallery, Cambridge, MA
Contemporary Baskets, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Contemporary Fiber Art – Converging Traditions, Grand Gallery, Grand Rapids, MI
ARTscottsdale, WestWorld, Art & Antiques, Scottsdale, AZ
Crafts National 2006, Lancaster Museum of Art, Lancaster, PA
2005-06 The Teapot Redefined, Mobilia Gallery, Cambridge, MA
2005 Sculpture, Objects, Functional Art Exposition, New York
Fiber Directions 2005, The Wichita Center for the Arts, Wichita, KS
Fiber Celebrated 2005, Durango Arts Center, Intermountain Weavers
Conference, Durango, CO
National Bead & Fiber Exhibit, The Delaplaine Visual Arts Education Center, Frederick, MD
The Art & Nature of Fiber, Tri-Lakes Center for the Arts, Palmer Lake, CO
Fish Follies 2005, Cordova Museum, Cordova, AK
2004 Contemporary Directions in Fiber, Reed Gallery, Denver, CO
Don’t Fence Me In–Containing the West, Colorado Convention Center,
Handweavers Guild of America Convergence 2004, Denver, CO
Trail Mix, Colorado Convention Center, HGA Convergence 2004, Denver, CO
Interlaced, Interwoven, Interlocked, Shuttles, Spindles, & Skeins, Boulder, CO
Lines Into Shapes, Art Center of Estes Park, Estes Park, CO
2000-04 Handweaver’s Guild of Boulder Show & Sale, Boulder, CO
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2007 American Craft, Gallery Section, June
Woods, Karen, "Review of 500 Baskets, A Celebration of the Basketmaker’s
Art", Shuttle, Spindle, & Dyepot, Spring
2006 Peters, Jan, 500 Baskets, Lark Books, Sterling Publications, Asheville, NC
"Breaking New Ground", Surface Design Journal, fall
2005 Linssen, Jennifer, "Paper Threads: for the Shifu lover in you", Complex
Weavers, Japanese Textiles Study Group, April,
2004 Wallace, Kevin, "Don't Fence Me In – Containing the West", Shuttle, Spindle,
& Dyepot, fall
Colorado Basketmaker’s Guild, Profile, January
Denver Gallery Guide, HGA Convergence, summer
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Jennifer Linssen is a classically trained fine artist who has been designing and creating art for over 20 years. For the past ten years, Jennifer has chosen to focus on textiles and sculptural vessels. She works full time in her weaving and dye studio in Boulder, Colorado.
Living and traveling in other cultures and the technical influences of Jennifer's early design career have helped shape her recent work. Jennifer's "katazome baskets©" are a marriage of basketry traditions and classical forms with pictorial katazome style hand-carved stencils in paper and metal. A fusion of metaphorical imagery and form articulate not only ideas about containment, but also conceptualize emotions or a single moment in time.
ARTIST'S STATEMENT
I create sculpture in paper, metal, and natural woven elements, which explore the delicacy of nature, the beauty of line, and the relationship between positive and negative space. I strive to depict a seamless marriage of metaphorical imagery and classic form. Much of my work is the investigation of both natural and man-made patterns. I am particularly interested in how pattern lends overall strength to an object such as the veining in plant leaves, the structure of a moth’s wing, or the crystal formations of snowflakes. My current work is about this struggle between fragility and endurance. I manipulate the materials and techniques to show just how delicate and ephemeral life can be, and yet somehow under the harshest conditions both humans and nature survive.
The sculpture I create utilizes the ancient art of katagami. Katagami, handcarved paper stencils, are used in the Japanese printing and dyeing process of katazome. In katazome, fine handmade mulberry paper is carved in a design and printed through with rice paste resist on lengths of kimono fabric. Katagami use in Japan peaked during the Edo and Meiji periods. During the time I was practicing traditional katazome and katagami carving, I began to feel the need to show and express the individuality and identity of the paper carving itself. The sculpture I create grew out of this period of investigation in my life.
My sculptural vessels and low-relief work are first developed through a series of sketches. Each sketch is an exploration and refinement of the form, pattern, and identity of the piece. The final three-dimensional piece is engineered out of flat paper or metal. I use both handmade and found archival paper in my work. Multiple pattern pieces are first mocked up to assess the shape of the sculpture. The pattern pieces are then handcarved. There are two technical series that run through my work. The katagami series expresses the openness and movement of design. The shoji series explores the translucency of layers. In all of my work the carved and shaped pieces are stitched and woven with metal, bamboo/reed, and waxed linen. In the sculpture’s final state, it is dyed, painted, patinaed, and varnished. This combination of katagami, metalsmithing, and basketry techniques is a unique and contemporary take on an ancient tradition.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2007 Beyond The Basket, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
How to See the Forest through the Trees, Arts Incubator, Kansas City, MO
2006-07 Selected Works, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2006 Sculpture, Objects, Functional Art Exposition, Chicago, IL
Celebrating the Necklace, Mobilia Gallery, Cambridge, MA
Contemporary Baskets, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Contemporary Fiber Art – Converging Traditions, Grand Gallery, Grand Rapids, MI
ARTscottsdale, WestWorld, Art & Antiques, Scottsdale, AZ
Crafts National 2006, Lancaster Museum of Art, Lancaster, PA
2005-06 The Teapot Redefined, Mobilia Gallery, Cambridge, MA
2005 Sculpture, Objects, Functional Art Exposition, New York
Fiber Directions 2005, The Wichita Center for the Arts, Wichita, KS
Fiber Celebrated 2005, Durango Arts Center, Intermountain Weavers
Conference, Durango, CO
National Bead & Fiber Exhibit, The Delaplaine Visual Arts Education Center, Frederick, MD
The Art & Nature of Fiber, Tri-Lakes Center for the Arts, Palmer Lake, CO
Fish Follies 2005, Cordova Museum, Cordova, AK
2004 Contemporary Directions in Fiber, Reed Gallery, Denver, CO
Don’t Fence Me In–Containing the West, Colorado Convention Center,
Handweavers Guild of America Convergence 2004, Denver, CO
Trail Mix, Colorado Convention Center, HGA Convergence 2004, Denver, CO
Interlaced, Interwoven, Interlocked, Shuttles, Spindles, & Skeins, Boulder, CO
Lines Into Shapes, Art Center of Estes Park, Estes Park, CO
2000-04 Handweaver’s Guild of Boulder Show & Sale, Boulder, CO
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2007 American Craft, Gallery Section, June
Woods, Karen, "Review of 500 Baskets, A Celebration of the Basketmaker’s
Art", Shuttle, Spindle, & Dyepot, Spring
2006 Peters, Jan, 500 Baskets, Lark Books, Sterling Publications, Asheville, NC
"Breaking New Ground", Surface Design Journal, fall
2005 Linssen, Jennifer, "Paper Threads: for the Shifu lover in you", Complex
Weavers, Japanese Textiles Study Group, April,
2004 Wallace, Kevin, "Don't Fence Me In – Containing the West", Shuttle, Spindle,
& Dyepot, fall
Colorado Basketmaker’s Guild, Profile, January
Denver Gallery Guide, HGA Convergence, summer
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Jennifer Linssen is a classically trained fine artist who has been designing and creating art for over 20 years. For the past ten years, Jennifer has chosen to focus on textiles and sculptural vessels. She works full time in her weaving and dye studio in Boulder, Colorado.
Living and traveling in other cultures and the technical influences of Jennifer's early design career have helped shape her recent work. Jennifer's "katazome baskets©" are a marriage of basketry traditions and classical forms with pictorial katazome style hand-carved stencils in paper and metal. A fusion of metaphorical imagery and form articulate not only ideas about containment, but also conceptualize emotions or a single moment in time.
ARTIST'S STATEMENT
I create sculpture in paper, metal, and natural woven elements, which explore the delicacy of nature, the beauty of line, and the relationship between positive and negative space. I strive to depict a seamless marriage of metaphorical imagery and classic form. Much of my work is the investigation of both natural and man-made patterns. I am particularly interested in how pattern lends overall strength to an object such as the veining in plant leaves, the structure of a moth’s wing, or the crystal formations of snowflakes. My current work is about this struggle between fragility and endurance. I manipulate the materials and techniques to show just how delicate and ephemeral life can be, and yet somehow under the harshest conditions both humans and nature survive.
The sculpture I create utilizes the ancient art of katagami. Katagami, handcarved paper stencils, are used in the Japanese printing and dyeing process of katazome. In katazome, fine handmade mulberry paper is carved in a design and printed through with rice paste resist on lengths of kimono fabric. Katagami use in Japan peaked during the Edo and Meiji periods. During the time I was practicing traditional katazome and katagami carving, I began to feel the need to show and express the individuality and identity of the paper carving itself. The sculpture I create grew out of this period of investigation in my life.
My sculptural vessels and low-relief work are first developed through a series of sketches. Each sketch is an exploration and refinement of the form, pattern, and identity of the piece. The final three-dimensional piece is engineered out of flat paper or metal. I use both handmade and found archival paper in my work. Multiple pattern pieces are first mocked up to assess the shape of the sculpture. The pattern pieces are then handcarved. There are two technical series that run through my work. The katagami series expresses the openness and movement of design. The shoji series explores the translucency of layers. In all of my work the carved and shaped pieces are stitched and woven with metal, bamboo/reed, and waxed linen. In the sculpture’s final state, it is dyed, painted, patinaed, and varnished. This combination of katagami, metalsmithing, and basketry techniques is a unique and contemporary take on an ancient tradition.