JENNIE JOHNSTON
Painting, Textiles, Installation Art, Mixed Media
Crow's Nest
Mixed media quilt
18” x 17”
City: Burnaby, British Columbia
Website: http://www.jenniejohnston.com/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mixedmediaquilts
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/jenniejohnstonartist/
Artist Statement: Through two dimensional art pieces meant for traditional gallery wall display and interactive projects meant to engage the community with textiles, I create quilts that have surface design elements such as paint, embroidery, photo transfer and stitch. I seek to draw the viewer into an intimate experience, moving the eye across the surface in a textural journey.
I strive to honour the legacy of anonymous women’s work, and bridge art and craft offering an intimate experience of stitch and fabric.
My work studies the human condition as it relates to nature, social justice, and ancestry. Themes speak to my personal journey on this planet, coming from a lineage of travelers and settlers. With a deep reverence for nature my work explores connections with animals and plants, often referencing mythology. Through my craftivist work, I contribute to stitch projects that gather works from artists across the world, bringing important issues such as human rights and domestic abuse to the forefront.
Biography: Jennie grew up in rural Quebec and has a Fine Arts Degree from Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick.
On the journey to find her artistic voice she began combining traditional craft techniques like embroidery and quilting with painting and fabric design. Her work has been displayed in group exhibits across Canada, the U.S and Italy, two solo exhibits in Burnaby, and she contributes to social activist art projects from all over the world including Australia and Mexico.
Over the course of the 2017-2018 school year Jennie was Artist-In-Residence at Forest Grove Elementary school in Burnaby. During the residency 300 students created 5 unique quilts and learned traditional and artistic textile skills.
She makes videos about her art process and her love of books on her YouTube channel and lives with her husband and two sons on the unceded territories of the Kwikwetlem, Tsleil-Waututh, Sto:lo, Qayqayt & Musqueam peoples.