Jennifer Reis – March 2-4
Website: https://www.jenniferannreis.com/
“I create embellished textile assemblages that investigate the ornamentation and armoring of female bodies sited in a Catholic aesthetic. My work marries traditional sewing, embroidery and embellishing techniques and materials with found objects to create decorative, iconic objects that exist as female power figures. The textile works are all hand-sewn and beaded, created through a slow-art process. The creative act is a meditative process of hand stitching and beaded, echoing traditional liturgical garment embellishment.
My work concerns the female form as an ornamented and empowered form existing within a ritualized context. As an artist, my point of view is inspired and informed by fashion, feminism, and a Catholic aesthetic rooted in my upbringing as a German-American. Fashion has been a constant personal and socio-cultural interest of mine from a very young age. Designers/artists like Alexander McQueen and Iris Van Herpen epitomize the concept of fashion as both armor and decoration that inspire me. Feminism is embedded as I intend to create images of the feminine as beautiful warrior. Being exposed to German Baroque religious architecture, art, and iconography as a young person has influenced the excessively embellished and iconic format consistently utilized as visual forms in the body of work. The intention of the works is to exist in the world as objects of beautiful power.”
Currently, Jennifer Reis is a professor at UNC-Greensboro and is on the teaching roster of the Virginia Commission for the Arts.
IN-PERSON and VIRTUAL LECTURE: Tues, March 2: 9:30 am (CT):Domestic Unrest: Embellished Textiles and Mixed Media Work
Textile and mixed media artist Jennifer A. Reis will give a lecture on her process, concepts, and inspirations that inform her body of work centering around female imagery and social commentary.
In-Person Workshop: “Embellished Textile Collage”
Tues, March 2: 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm
Wed, March 3: 9:30 am – 4:00 pm
Thurs, March 4: 9:30 am – 4:00 pm
Textile art practices – including art quilting – are increasingly incorporating the unlimited potential of using mixed media to enrich and enliven through unique surface design. In this class, embellished textile techniques applique, quilting, thread and bead embroidery, and utilizing photographic images are just a few of art textile techniques students will learn and incorporate into projects.
Students will create two primary projects: 1) a technique sampler, and 2) a self-directed artwork utilizing textile surface design skills. Through the technique sampler, students explore how to utilize textile techniques to create fine art objects, and will learn the following skills: hand sewing, traditional and raw appliqué, hand embroidery techniques, hand beading and embellishing with traditional and non-traditional materials, shi-sha mirror and sequin application, individual consultation on basic principles of color and composition, and presentation of finished artwork.
Students will then develop, design, and create personalized mini textile artwork.