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‘To stitch is to heal’: Artist Jenny Welden depicts both loss and new life with a collection of ‘Everyday Saints’ at The Art Base

A collection of colorful textile works by artist Jenny Welden hangs on the wall of The Art Base gallery in downtown Basalt on Aug. 28, 2024. Her exhibition, “Everyday Saints,” features designs that appear abstract before figures start to emerge.
Kaya Williams
/
Aspen Public Radio
A collection of colorful textile works by artist Jenny Welden hangs on the wall of The Art Base gallery in downtown Basalt on Aug. 28, 2024. Her exhibition, “Everyday Saints,” features designs that appear abstract before figures start to emerge.

At first glance, Jenny Welden’s exhibition at The Art Base is like a kaleidoscope of swirling abstract designs: scraps of fabric in scarlet red, indigo blue and goldenrod yellow, stitched together in a series of oblong shapes that draw the eye on a wandering path across each piece.

But the longer you stare, the more figures emerge — stars, vines, rivers and halos, filling a rounded outline that resembles an almost human form.

“It's kind of this unexpected, improvisational chain of choices and discoveries,” Welden said of her creative process.

For this project, titled “Everyday Saints” and designed specifically for The Art Base, Welden sourced scraps of material from rare silks and old mills, her childhood blanket and her wedding dress. They’re stitched together using a longarm sewing machine, which Welden guides over the fabric with handlebars — almost like a dance.

The oblong pieces are arranged in a set of nine, described as an “altarpiece;” several other textile works are also on display, reflecting the emotions and experiences that have shaped Welden’s perspective.

An opening reception takes place Friday evening from 5 to 7 p.m., with an artist talk. It celebrates the debut of “Everyday Saints” as well as a photography exhibition by Jessie Chaney. Her collection, titled, “Choose Your Own Direction” focuses on the remnants of forgotten places — rusty signs and deserted buildings against soft shades of sky blue and dusty brown.

Both artists are slated to attend and speak about their work at the reception. On Saturday, Welden will also present a demonstration at the gallery with the opportunity for public participation in her creative process; it's scheduled from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

In advance of the opening, Welden spoke with reporter Kaya Williams about the meaning behind the work and her creative practice. This interview has been edited and condensed.

As I'm taking these raw emotions, I'm sort of distilling them and turning them into something that I consider useful, because it's beautiful, and it's not just lingering in myself, … but it's instead processing them and allowing them to be fuel for this creative fire.
— Artist Jenny Welden, on strong feelings as creative inspiration

Kaya Williams: Where do you get your inspiration from? Are there certain things out in the world or certain art that you're consuming that kind of gets the creative juices flowing?

Jenny Welden: Oh, my goodness, everything gets the creative juices flowing. My creative practice is so pivotal in my life, and it's a combination of my experiences. 

So I would say the biggest thing that fuels my creative work is travel and really interacting with new places and new people, strangers that I've never met, and new foods. But the landscapes of places, the feelings of places, the feeling of motion itself, I think, really fills up my creative tank in order to keep going.

But I've also noticed that when I experience extreme levels of human emotions, human experiences, you know, the fears and the challenges and the stresses, oftentimes in that tense, compacted mental state, I'll also get like, seeds of inspiration that push me to the studio. And I think that that part of my practice is also really important — that as I'm taking these raw emotions, I'm sort of distilling them and turning them into something that I consider useful, because it's beautiful, and it's not just lingering in myself, sending me into unhelpful mental cycles, but it's instead, like, processing them and allowing them to be fuel for this creative fire.

Williams: Are there certain emotions or experiences that you think are really present in this exhibition of The Art Base?

Welden: Oh, my goodness, yes. All of the work in this exhibition was created over the past two years, especially for the art base, especially for this show. And I had a vision for this show. I knew it was going to be called “Everyday Saints.” I knew that I was going to create this nine figure piece, and I didn't really know what it all meant yet, and so I had this real strong conviction to make the work and to begin the work.

And then all of these other things in my life happened, including having a baby and making a big move with my husband, and I also lost my beloved mother figure and friend during the process, and these tectonic shifts in my life caused me to go back to the studio and continue to make the work that I felt called to make, but they also added layers to the work that I didn't expect.

A vibrant textile piece by artist Jenny Welden is part of a new exhibition at The Art Base gallery in downtown Basalt, as seen here on Aug. 28, 2024. The show, titled “Everyday Saints,” will be up through Sept. 27, 2024.
Kaya Williams
/
Aspen Public Radio
A vibrant textile piece by artist Jenny Welden is part of a new exhibition at The Art Base gallery in downtown Basalt, as seen here on Aug. 28, 2024. The show, titled “Everyday Saints,” will be up through Sept. 27, 2024. 

Williams: What does that phrase, “Everyday Saints,” represent to you?

Welden: I will say, “Everyday Saints,” in this show is the fabrics themselves. And this show is focused around the idea of personal sacrifice towards higher good, and there's a level of sacrifice that necessitates some of the beautiful cyclical change that happens in our lives, and this cycle of death and rebirth, loss and renewal, creation, destruction. I think there has to be some acceptance of the sacrifice in order for that beauty to come around again.

Williams: Now, it could just be the word “saint,” but my mind immediately draws to like, there's so many different religious themes that you could unpack there, too — spiritual ones, however you want to categorize it. Is that something that you've grappled with in other work, or kind of new territory for you?

Welden: I think the exploration of the sacred is a pivotal part of my identity as an artist, and yet I am sort of operating on this interesting edge that's touching on some religious themes, but isn't necessarily part of a church.

And I think, especially in this era, where there's so much polarization, and yet people still hold deep spiritual beliefs, there's not very many places for us to explore the sacred without being put into, like, a very narrow category that's often embedded with pain and anger and bitterness from different experiences. So it's a challenging edge culturally to work with, but that's the edge that I feel that I must continue to work in.

Williams: Are there people in your life that you feel like you're channeling as everyday saints, or are these meant to be, you know, everybody finds their own saint in these pieces?

Welden: I think that if I were to pick a saint in my life, I would have to pick my mother. She is incredible, and the amount of love and self sacrifice that she has given to me has enabled me to do the brave and creative work that I do.

But the show, I think, is definitely expanding upon the notion of a saint. There's obviously a lot of charged religious connotations of what a saint is. And in my statement for my show, I make some new definitions, and I encourage people who come to the show to experience those new definitions.

Williams: What would those new definitions be?

Welden: Ooh, OK. Well, I would say the foundational definition is “stitch.” So to stitch is to heal, it's to pierce, it's to illuminate, it's to always begin again.

And that paradoxical nature of a stitch that pierces something but also heals is essential to understanding the whole body of work.

Kaya Williams is the Edlis Neeson Arts and Culture Reporter at Aspen Public Radio, covering the vibrant creative and cultural scene in Aspen and the Roaring Fork Valley. She studied journalism and history at Boston University, where she also worked for WBUR, WGBH, The Boston Globe and her beloved college newspaper, The Daily Free Press. Williams joins the team after a stint at The Aspen Times, where she reported on Snowmass Village, education, mental health, food, the ski industry, arts and culture and other general assignment stories.