Beauty of Decay / Contemplating Beauty

working with fiber and a certain lyricism

I have been writing over the years. I have written poems that are a pathway to understanding my inner world and the effect the natural world has upon my life transitions. The inter connection between the natural world and my inner self is always fluid. I have used fiber and textile for most of my artistic career. I am now adding a bit of poetry too, tucking it is here and there, along with photography of the landscape that speaks to me so often. I have found that how we interpret the world around us is imperative to how we make adjustments to challenges and find a way forward.

In the middle of this sort of dialogue is the question of my aging, how I see the world now as youth and beauty shift and present themselves differently. There is a new vocabulary that finds itself within my writing. There are words I did not think would be used when I was young, at least not often. These new words bring new imagery about death, decay, the meaning of aging and what the new image of beauty is.

Having seen such a great deal of death within the last decade and witnessing my own self moving into a different cycle, I have recalibrated my vision of beauty.

I think there is a tremendous value in the process of aging, the patina of life that wraps us up into a new type of nest. I am optimistic that if I can treasure the beauty of decay that I too can move forward in a joyfulness that all those who have gone before me would wish for.

It is not an easy feat in our society to embrace death and decay but what I see in these processes is the opportunity for enlightenment and rebirth.

Whether or not I can express any of these ideas in the upcoming show is as of yet unknown. I do however wish that you might visit the show at Piante and have some comment about what speaks to you and what does not.

Piante Gallery to exhibit my work for the month of March 2018 Saturday March 3rd 6-9 pm Opening

It has been a very busy year and I have pursued some different styles in the studio. I am happy to be showing recent work from the past 5 years that brings in the new mix of photography, painting and fiber. I hope you can join me at Piante this first Saturday evening in March. I am attaching Jasn Marak's notes for the Times Standard as he does a great job in describing the show.

Contemplating Beauty:
Jennifer Mackey at Piante
notes by Jason Marak for Times Standard

... Eureka's Piante gallery will be featuring textiles, paintings, photography, collage, and sculptural work – all by the same artist. Jennifer Mackey's exhibition of recent work, "The Beauty of Decay," will showcase her artistic versatility through an ongoing exploration of the natural world and our place within it.

For Mackey, the allure of the natural realm goes far beyond the composition of a vista or quality of light. "I'm definitely abstract in my approach," Mackey said. "Everything I look at becomes a landscape, or some kind of flora." Mackey describes her process as one of experience and reaction. "The work comes from an emotional response to landscape, especially a sensibility to texture." Perhaps best known for her textiles, Mackey attributes this textural affinity, in part, to many years of work with natural fibers, wools, silks, and handmade papers. Contact with these materials seems to have given Mackey an intimate understanding of natural forms that she has been able to carry across mediums, infusing textural awareness into all her work.

Even when Mackey's work presents more traditional notions of landscape, as with some of her photographs, the pieces often feature decaying flora, fauna, or dilapidated dwellings – the breaking down of the structure she is so familiar with. "I think it's been important for me to find beauty in death and decay," she explained. "It's important to think about what holds us together, what's the structure of our lives, where do we find beauty. It's fleeting. There's an impermanence that's wonderful to capture but also to let go of."

Despite the variety of work, there is a remarkable consistency of vision in the show. Mackey presents the viewer with myriad visual representations not just of the transformation from vibrancy to decay, but also of the simultaneity that exists: In the paintings, lively blues, greens, yellows, and reds are paired with gestures and lines that feel more subdued. Rugged looking, sometimes tattered textiles are wrapped and folded into beautiful, intricate forms. Photographs depict a model lying on the forest floor, wrapped in textiles that look as though they could have occurred naturally or by human hand, the model simultaneously other and part of the landscape, simultaneously being born from and returning to the earth.

"The Beauty of Decay" will open on Saturday. There will be a reception for the artist held in conjunction with Arts Alive.

Here we are looking at winter. Projects abound, some completed and some in our hopeful thoughts. For me, I can take a breath after a lot of coming and going, building and renewing. Still the landscape speaks to me at the deepest level. I am doing more photography than before. I am very much a novice but it is a nice medium to hold in my hand as I travel. Since the last blog I have been to Paris, Cuba, Portugal, Mexico, and ports near on the Pacific Northwest. I have fallen in love with another grandchild and witnessing how fast the world changes. I follow textures and sounds, loss and love.

As the first rain falls upon a very dry ground I turn my thoughts to the next show and the next indulgence. May we find hope in creation and peace in the sharing of it.

many months, many roads, textures abound

Speaking Tonight at Humboldt Handweaver's Meeting at Wharfinger

I am the worst at keeping these Blogs up to date. it is hardly a Blog but yet things are happening up here in my hill studio. I have been busy with commissions this summer and general exploring the studio itself. There is a lot to do and when not in the drying yet gorgeous property I am in the studio.

This is one of 11 fabric panels I did for a wonderful artist couple of whose work I have always admired so it meant a great deal to do some work for their home.

This is a mono print and surely I could not do it again. These works are all signature 'prints' but I must say they are paintings for they work easily behind a frame as well as a cushion cover.




There has been a few nice bits of traveling since the close of the studio in the spring. I am always moved by texture of landscape and my artistic response to it. So as to not bore you.. I will list just a few...

Sydney Australia Fortress walls

The wear of sun, sea, air and time on rock often gives such a sense of spontaneous  design. I am moved by the overlay of natural color and tone. I realize that I am highly affected by this achievement that hundreds and sometimes thousands of years give us. I know this to be a realism I want to mimic and celebrate. The larger pastoral landscapes so many are clever to paint and create are not to be of my first love. The energy I find in the veins of a rock or the fiber of a hand rolled bead from grass astonish my field of vision. It is for this sort of environment I tie up my fabrics, paint textiles, dip dye with plant dyes or surface print with whatever is at hand. I love the surprise that shibori can bring. And I have cultivated my own approach which is anything but predictable. In doing so I hope to maintain a certain energy that is never fully at rest but represents something only the natural environment can give us.

Maori Textile from the Auckland Museum, New Zealand

 It was in Auckland at the Museum where I was surprised to see the Maori weavings and textiles using all native plants and colors of earth that I remembered why I love playing with my personal shibori dye technique on natural toes or simply black with lift off dyes creating the imagery. My style is rather the reverse process but there is still a very organic approach which allows for rich coffee blacks and soft gentle browns.

Perhaps the last opening for many months... 622 Second Street Eureka 6-9pm

Tonight, the 7th of February, I will have a quiet show at the gallery. This is the last show I anticipate for some time. There is a lot of studio work I would like to get back too. There is a sculpture project I have been longing to do for almost 5 years and there is some writing to accomplish. And as always the fabrics to explore and new techniques to put into place.



So I hope to see you this evening or in the near future. I will be closed by the first week of March. These are two months set aside for a sabbatical. Then what? Keep an eye on the blog and I will try to be a bit more consistent.



Thank you for all your viewings and your input and of course for being a supporter and patron.

Cheers, Jen

Before I go too far.. let's look at the gallery

When I spoke of black in the last post... I referred to these pieces that I think have a more Asian quality. There is a certain balance of power between the color and open spaces of untouched black. Each of these cocoons shown hanging are backed with solid black silk that peeks through at the edges when being worn. They can also be worn inside out so that the person wearing the garment has a very quiet look with the excitement of traditional kimono at the edges. Showing on the wall are pieces that primarily use the Japanese shibori technique of stitch resist. It is labor intensive but allows for a very energetic line. It is the movement in surprise and creation that I want to maintain in my work. It is here where I know that none can recreate what nature has done. Each and every piece has been directed and pushed by my design and artistic sensibilities yet they are creatures of their own. They breath, they live and they delight in abstract chaotic beauty.

 By winter time, in late November, I had come across some beautiful Merino wool from a wool coat and vest line I had done in the 90's. This beautiful black wool called to me. Play with me, push away from the slippery silks... so I used some of the shibori techniques and did a small line of pieces that all sold quickly.






These wide scarves shown on Mikaela as skirt and wrap were a nice addition to the light weight of most silks the gallery had been showing. They were perfect for the winter months. I went up to Portland Oregon to purchase a few yards more of their lovely black wools and finished the series. All are gone but the seed is planted for next years cooler climate.

Mikaela Mackey wearing winter 2014 woolens

As 2015 sets in... 622 Second Street Eureka goes on a sabbatical...

I have just looked at the time frame of my last blog... four months ago! It has been a wonderful autumn and I have received good responses and sales. Specifically my silk cocoon wraps did the best. The gallery at 622 Second Street met so many expectations that I had when I opened almost a full year ago.

Now in full winter mode I am looking at the windup or wind down of this lovely old town studio gallery space.

I played with new colors,
moving away from my well known black.
Some nice surprises came with it and creative juices flowed.

I still feel the most connected to the blacks as background with
simple lift off dye techniques bringing three dimensionality.
I have continued to push the idea of adding and subtracting
in my development of design. The surprises that my shibori
techniques bring are most often perfect. But sometimes this intuitive
process brings some sorrow and I am then back at the printing
table pushing to save and enhance an unusual beginning. It is in
the saving of an unwanted offspring that I find some of the most
interesting patterns emerging and new ideas for future projects.

 

I had the good fortune of a beautiful young model, my niece Mikaela, who indulged my request for shooting these silks in a three dimensional form. Even in my apparel industry days I found that the silks I have always worked with really came to life when the models moved in them. Wrapping and unwrapping of silks can be the most sumptuous of fabric play. There is not another fabric that I have worked with that is so versatile and well received. It is loved for is draping, its warmth, its sensual nature and its durability.

The cocoons have become a piece that can be scarf, dress, wrap, skirt and even in one case a throw of exquisite design for those who have everything.

Mikaela is showing two separate pieces as skirt and wrap. These are approximately 48" by 60". They are very generous by measure and make a gorgeous wall hanging for any contemporary home. This of course also answers the question when men arrive in the gallery and say they love the work but how to manage it, not being the skirt wearing sort... Voila..hang these unique one of a kind pieces. Soften your world and home with a one of kind hand designed, printed, screened silk.

September . Algae as Art

I have been working in my backyard. I have been digging in the garden, cleaning the pond, weeding, pruning, laughing, crying, singing, walking, drinking, eating and generally living life on my 5 acres. I have been spending a lot of time thinking and watching the world around me. I having been waiting for my own Godot. In lieu of Godot showing a myriad of others have arrived. Some visitors are animals and others plants new to me. The algae in the pond has been a vibrant shape shifting visitor. This specific algae that speaks to this months show is only in place for about one month a year. When working on cleaning the pond a few years ago I found the 'hand' of the algae wonderful and began to shape and change, add and subtract, and generally fall in love with the stuff.

 This show explores some of the ideas I mentioned in my last blog about the beauty of decay and transformation. I think it is beautiful in its simplicity. It reminds most people of those paper wasp nests which is such a compliment to me. I have mixed a bit of this and that from the property and manipulated minimally so as to not pull the natural energy from it

With this photo above you are looking at July's show and part of that conversation of beauty and decay. As we follow the birth of something and see it change it writes its own story. As with any fiber piece I have worked on in the last 34 years, I add and subtract from the initial material. I am always hoping to let the natural beauty speak and maintain its simple majestic voice.

This is a wonderful mobile... Impossible to photograph properly here so you will just have to come by for a visit....... Hope to see you soon. Tonight the 6th of September is the opening. 6 to 9 pm 

So much fiber and art and gallery

I have been ever so negligent in getting to my Blog. The new gallery has been such a great space and lit the creative candle for me. Seems that everything else I do still needed to be done. I am hoping to get some older shots of the previous monthly shows uploaded but suffice to say this June I had a swell time shooting some photographs of my lovely nieces in my hand dyed and manipulated fabrics. They were great and generous models.
The leg piece below is called Mikaela and won an award in the RAA photo show in July. I was very happy to have it positively reviewed by an LA juror.

I have been in a conversation about texture and the natural world for a few years now. I have yet to find the vocabulary for explaining my relationship within the natural environment that feeds my soul on a daily basis.

It is crucial for me to walk out into the birth and decay of the woodland. I am held up and reunited with my own inner self when I kick fallen leaves or trim the dying branches of a favorite shrub.

With plenty of friends and family passing on, it is nature that has held my attention and shown me that there is another day and another birth about to take place if I am patient. It has shown me that there is a new beauty worth waiting for, worth getting out of bed for, and worth a beating heart.

I have also in this long process of watching life cycles move on into aging, realized there is beauty in decay. Perhaps it is my own desire to courageously walk into my finale that pushes my intrigue. My eyes are newly opened on many levels. In seeking life I find joy and beauty. In looking around me I see that age brings depth, texture, color, and new surfaces that surprise and adorn.

I am seeking to explore the cycle of life and to show the beauty and common thread within it.

In this photo the girls are wrapped in a few different fabrics and sitting upon their maternal great grandmother's couch that has been redone in hand painted white linen. They have a playful 'boa' around their necks that had wrapped a treasured corset and the orange fabric is still in process for its next stage.

The ideas of the chrysalis,  cocoon, metamorphosis, change and emergence challenge and inform my creative thinking a lot these days.
I like to push the use of things and reinvent. And I would like the reinventing to be of some 'poetic' and universal themes or constructs.

It all feels a bit heady...in so much as I am still trying to explain and explore with not enough time and focus to really create the imagery or words. But I will get there and perhaps publish something to reflect the journey.

For now I am gathering some ideas into the little gallery space and its monthly shows. I hope you can come by and see the next show. And I look forward to having the discussions about what the purpose might or might not be to any of it.

Thanks for your viewing.
There are loads of photos of this photo exhibit should you be interested in more. Just let me know...

FIBER for April's announcement

Fiber

We are swaddled in it, we are buried in it wrapped like mummies or in the satin of a coffin.
Silk heals and hemp constructs.
It warms us and defines us by the clothe upon our back.
And what is rag paper that we have painted upon but the very thing we touch and come back to through generations.
Papyrus for the scholar and for the river banks
Histories have been woven into textiles long before the print and we express through fiber though it will decay with time.
From dust to dust...
yet in between our birth and death fiber allows for wonderful exploration of creativity in the nature surrounding us.



Studio 622 . a gallery . 622 Second St. Eureka . CA 95565  www.chiajenstudio.com

I will be exhibiting creations in fiber, of fiber and on top of fiber for the next year. My inspiration comes from landscapes and textures. Though not a realist, I see my process as closely identifying with the surface structures of all organic things and the natural beauty I wake up to everyday.
The work exhibited will be representing decades of work from textiles created for the fashion industry, interior design projects, sculptural exploration of fabrics, fine art works of mixed media and a bit of poetry.

opening STUDIO 622 an art gallery at 622 Second Street, Eureka, CA

The quiet studio in the redwoods affords me comfort and creative energy. And I have been working in my space since 1985 when we built it. I thrive on the solitude and yet find from time to time it is important to go out into the world to share with others. With this in mind I have decided to rent a gallery space in Old Town Eureka for one year. This will be a year of representing myself with a new show each month exhibiting different themes. I have been all over the map both in mediums used and physically. It all comes from one heart and mind, my own. And I thought it was time I make myself a bit more public and enjoy this beautiful community on the coast of northern California. Even in the setting up of this sweet space I have found good fun in walking along the sidewalks of Old Town and having so much available to me. You must remember I have been based in the marvelous and mysterious woods. So now this ease of walking out my new gallery door and into the quiet urban scene of Eureka is a delight. I think I have the best of both worlds and it should keep the fire light under my creative self for awhile.

Tonight will be my first show. I am starting with textiles as most people know me from that sensibility. I will be adding and subtracting to textiles with watercolors, collages, poetry, sculpture, etc. This is a creative and understated playhouse for me. I invite you to pop in tonight or any Thursday through Saturday from 12-6 pm. I will be firm on those hours beginning May 1st. I am always available by appointment and you are always welcome to set up an appointment to come out and see my artist retreat  in the redwoods.

Please send this on to anyone you think might like to stop in. I have not begun to advertise yet. This was all thrown together on a creative whim.

The best of spring to you!
Jennifer

STUDIO 622
contact:510-318-1351

Open Studio today and tomorrow 11-5

Good morning from the early morning June fog of Monument Road. In a few hours there will be some balloons on my mailbox should you be looking for the right country lane to turn into. I will have coffee and tea, wine and good clean water with lemon slices. A few little cookies to serve will be on the counter of the upstairs studio space.
I imagine this summer fog will be gone by 11 a.m. when the studio door opens. At which time I might be stitching on a few little 8"x8" pillows of silk or linen to offer some low priced items. Or perhaps I will be making scarves until someone ventures into these lovely redwoods and pops in the studio door.

You can park down by my residence which is an octagonal home my husband and I built in the early 80's. The when walking back to the studio, before climbing the exterior circular stairwell that is showing signs of rot, you will have passed the new wood shed built with lovely old resawn redwood.

This will be a relaxed day to enjoy a 'middle' Humboldt day which is never like the north end of Humboldt nor the south end. I rest absolutely in between as does my art. Unique to its environment, my home and art are one of a kind. My work is abstract with a gesture to landscapes and the internal music that effect my sensibilities every moment of the day.

I look forward to your visit today and tomorrow between 11 and 5. And should you not be able to attend today, you are welcome to call for a personal visit another time. 707-764-3877
Cheers and thank you for your attention....

prayer flags

landscapes/fiber

I will be open for one of the two announced North Coast Open Studios this year. This will be the second weekend of June. I will be presenting some watercolors, prints, some textile pieces (scarves, small items, and custom fabrics) and miscellaneous bits. If you are interested in visiting with me at that time please stop in. There is some handicap access but most viewing of art will be upstairs in the main studio. If the weather is nice the garden will be worth a browse. It is mostly a naturalized combination of beds and rough pasture with a few paths carved into it.
If you have any questions on how to get here please call me on the office number 707-764-3877.
It is 1.8 miles up from the main Wildwood Avenue of Rio Dell on Monument Road. There will be a metal sign on the base of my mailbox post... 1961.
Please look at
www.northcoaststudios.com for more information of that exciting and abundant weekend

Open Studio is from
June 8-9
Saturday and Sunday
11 am to 5 pm

Goodness,  a year has passed since I last wrote! It has been a busy year of travel, the birth of my first grandchild, and a good deal of projects on the studio's five acres. It seems a lot of my creative juices have gone to shingling the cabin/bath house, installing some art work into the garden, building vegetable beds, landscaping, and designing a beautiful woodshed using re-sawn old growth redwood.

But creativity takes all shapes and there has been new projects explored and begun:
a new printer for an in-house art and poetry book this year
painting and sketching using different mediums
planning an outdoor sculpture project that should be placed in the orchard ' 7 Torso's ' withn the next few years. This project will require some education on my part of casting torso forms and building the pieces from there.

A Little Showing this Friday April 20th @ 5-6 pm

 Have you ever been to Sedonna? Then you will know of Vortexes. It seems my life has been in a rather large one for awhile now. The art has been good that comes from that very sense of being pulled by some deep and strong electrical charge. This series is from the Arizona dozen I painted during a week there in January.

So... before summer arrives and the work leaves Eureka Art and Frame for my Open Studio on the second week of June, I decided to pour a little bubbly. Whether water or champagne, I hope you can come by before you go out on the town this coming Friday.... 1636 F Street, Eureka.    

If you miss that please find another time to go into Eureka Art and Frame's little gallery space and see what I have been up to. Heck, you can even buy them and take them home. This would give you a little Vortex for your own electrical charge.....

Eureka First Saturday Arts Alive this February 4th...Redwood Curtain Show

I will be at Redwood Curtain Theatre in Eureka, @2nd St in Old Town (adjacent to Aalfs, Evans and Co., 104 D Street) tomorrow night. I am showing work from the Paris show a couple of years ago. Framed textile pieces for their gallery space just inside the lobby. Please drop in. I should be there till 7:30 pm when I have to race over to the Morris Graves and support Demetri Mitsanas at his show. We must support one another!!

Remember to also look at the new work hanging at Eureka Art and Frame. Gabe has let me use his gallery space this winter/spring.... I will be getting my newest work from last week's Arizona visit framed and up there soon. Most importantly, please encourage your friends to go and visit. Of course it is all for sale and all under $500. Framed pieces $500, matted and shrink wrapped @ $300 and lower without either frame or matt.... Call me in the studio at 707-764-3877 for more information