jen forsythe

This series was created using cross-stitch embroidery kits commonly found in craft supply stores.  The imagery in these kits is colorful and kitschy, oftentimes depicted alongside an inspirational quote. They are commercially developed within the realm of craft.  My work is created by transforming these kits – by disregarding the pattern and making the work by responding to the colors of thread and size of fabric provided.

This body of work is about the relationship between kitschy, commercialized craft and fine art.  I am using the same materials that someone else would use to create a cute image to hang in their house, yet my work is able to be viewed as art because of the transformation that occurs when there isn’t a pattern being referenced.  I have a great degree of respect for people who create crafts like these – I learned all of my skills in various forms of needlework from my mother and through these types of guided projects.  My work is not meant to diminish the presence and the importance of these craft pieces, but rather to address how similar they can be to fine art.  I embrace the fact that the line between fine art and craft has become increasingly blurred over the past century.

The Vestige series consists of nine abstract collagraph prints. The roughly squared prints confined in a frame suggest a collection of organic yet unrecognizable objects. Evocative of terrain, only the two-dimensional imprint remains. As is the nature of collagraphs, the repeated pressure from printing multiple editions would damage the plates, much as the shape of the earth is sculpted over many years, leaving only the imagery and memories of the past.