I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN AS A CHILD I WAS MEANT TO BE A PHOTOGRAPHER
My name is Jessica and I am both a photographer and fiber artist. I love to combine these two mediums together, to create beautifully functional art, like tote bags, coasters, and one of a kind mini tapestries. I also dabble with paper to make a selection of greeting cards, gift tags, and calendars. I do all of it, from creating the images to sewing the fabric items, right in my studio, which is situated on the southern edge of the Adirondacks in upstate New York.
I’m not sure why it took me until my first black and white photo class in college to realize my passion, but I was definitely hooked! So much so, I ended up earning my B.S. in photography. Looking back, I think I always felt that innate and somewhat magical power of photography. I remember my grandparent’s house had bookshelves filled with photo albums, and every time we visited I would spend what felt like hours pouring over them. They were somewhat scrapbook-y, with various ephemera mixed in, but I was only interested in the photographs. Those photos held memories, stories, and a record of a time long past; containing so many people and things that no longer exist. But to see that photograph was proof of what had been and an impression of what life was like when those people and things existed.
Now that I’ve been creating images myself for a number of years, I am developing an understanding of the connection between it all: subject, photographer, image, viewer. When I choose to photograph something, it’s because I feel a pull to my subject. The subjects I am most drawn to are things from the natural world (mostly plant life, though I occasionally explore other life) and almost anything vintage. I feel my way through every photo shoot – spending anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour or more with each subject – until I feel I’ve captured that quality that drew me to the subject. And when I see someone else feel their own connection to what I’ve captured in my images, well that’s the most fulfilling thing ever!
Not long after I started my business in 2009, I felt an inexplicable desire to learn how to quilt – to create those stunning geometric patterns in fabric. I quickly fell in love with the tactile nature of working with fabric, and it was through quilting that I discovered a process to put images on fabric. That was all it took to spark a whole landslide of ideas combining fabric with my images. And I discovered I really love making things that are both beautiful and functional, which can be used over and over again for a long time!
Curious to see what I’ve been making?
Now, in the unlikely event you are forced to take a pop quiz about me, these tidbits may come in handy:
- I am happy to eat cereal for any meal, snack, or dessert.
- I love games – video games, board games, puzzles – and have been known to get a bit competitive.
- I surround myself with nature to clear my head and reset. I highly recommend standing in the middle of a forest and just looking up for a while.
- I’m head-over-heels for my pibbles. (An endearing term used by those of us fortunate enough to share our lives with pit bull-type dogs.)
- I am all about details!
- I don’t like to photograph landscapes, weddings, events, or people.
- I am obsessed with & collect vintage cameras. Fair warning: if you ask me about any of them, you’ve pressed my geek button and I will probably talk your ears off.
- I am also obsessed with fabric – especially when there are words on it! I will happily spend hours hunting down just the right fabric for a new project.
- I lived my first 5 years in West Virginia, then in Massachusetts for about a year, then more than 30 years in northern California before moving to upstate New York.
- I really loved all the math classes I took in school, though I did feel a bit out of my depth when I got to calculus!
