Merging traditional, ancestral techniques with bespoke improvisations, painter, weaver, and teacher Amber Jensen fashions stories and symbols out of thread and cloth. Jensen compares her weavings and patterns to European American woven coverlet patterns and finely detailed sampler embroideries. a tree, from a bare seed of potential, the self can become was woven in a historical overshot pattern called wheel and cross, then layered with hand-stitched patchwork and woolen leaves, all in monochromatic green hues. Inspired by Jensen’s memory of a woodland hike in the American Midwest, this textile features a verdant bed of moss, lichen, and leaves that bring shelter and comfort for wildlife. In tidal currents, rhythmic pull of sun and moon, Jensen orchestrated a new stitch as one continuous thread and poured pools of blue dye onto the wool felt, allowing the dye to drop along the edges and saturate the wool in concentrated areas. “As the process unfurls, missteps are made,” she said. “I respond by adding dye, adding more stitches. Missteps become essential, an informed progression towards something deeper. The chains of x’s parade across, connected at the back. I describe them as ‘holding hands.’ They seem to wade through the blueness, awash in possibility.”
Website
http://www.ambermjensen.com/