Jennifer Nelson is an artist who works in a variety of mediums to create a body of work that displays a diversity of style. As she would say, she didn’t become an artist, but has always been an artist; drawing, constructing, and creating since she can remember. She has nine years of formal training, beginning in high school with classes at Atelier Lack through earning a BFA degree from University of Minnesota, Duluth.

Jennifer states: My art is inspired by the visual stimulus that’s all around me every day, sometimes it’s the play between light and shadow that could be in nature or in the city. Sometimes it¹s just a color combination I like, for example, a red door frame with pale green siding. It may be about texture¬ stucco next to wood or the glimmer of water. A single frame from a movie can give me a composition that I love and want to capture. All of that interests me in some way and I want to capture the essence or mood of it.

Art is my form of expression and I delight in the activity ¬even some of the struggle that comes along with it. I love seeing what emerges in the process and continually create until I’ve said what I have to say visually.

About The Patterns of Dress Series:

Jennifer Nelson bought the home owned by her Grandmother (and built by her Great-Grandfather). Among the items left in the house were a variety of dress patterns. Jennifer's grandmother was a prolific seamstress and very much into fashion. Jennifer's artistic eye recognized these patterns as a medium _for her art and their potential to become timeless like the fashions they represent by taking on a new life within her art. Jennifer loves the quality of the patterns themselves with the transparent tissue and all the text that instructs the construction of the garment.

While she doesn't believe that "clothes make the man or woman", she is certain that we make real statements about ourselves in what we wear. With this series, Jennifer hopes to both capture a time gone by and also show how some designs just keep re-inventing themselves, becoming current.

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