A Re-Introduction
Many of you know me from my Jennythreads sewing days, while others are seeing my papercut art in museums for the first time. I'd like to take a few minutes to detail my background and recent reinvention. Come along!
Jennifer York, spring 2023
I am a lifelong artist and have loved to draw since I was little. My first art-making memory is on the wall of our playroom, a spare bedroom in my parents’ house that would get paneled over eventually. I was four years old, I had a kids’ kitchen set, and drew a window with a flower pot in the sill above the little play sink. I also found some scissors and cut my own hair into that sink too. Some things never change.
My brother Jim, Mom, and me (photo by Dad), circa 1979
I grew up in rural Indiana, always loved to draw and craft, was mentored by my artist aunt Kelly Hoernig, earned a BFA in sculpture at Pratt Institute and MFA in textiles at SCAD, and settled in Asheville, NC. I spent 20 years creating Jennythreads American Art to Wear in-house from start to finish, cutting, sewing, designing, printing, finishing, selling retail and wholesale. My assistants and I made clever, artistic wearables for cool, stylish women, most of whom shopped with me personally in my booth at art fairs throughout the South and Midwest.
Jennythreads sales booth, circa 2012
2018-2019: I was burned out and done with production work and rain-soaked craft fairs. My 17-year marriage ended in heartbreak. I traveled to 12 countries in 2 years for 6 weeks at a time for monthlong art residencies where I explored by running, filled sketchbooks with drawings, cut paper, and built pictorial carousel books of my adventures and exhibiting my artwork onsite abroad.
Happily creating “Stowaways” carousel book, 2020
Three years ago, I moved to Charleston, SC for a fresh start. I had come here annually to show Jennythreads in Piccolo Spoleto Craft Fair for 15+ years and always liked the area. I reconnected with Sam York, an old SCAD grad school buddy, and we fell in love. We hunkered down through the COVID Pandemic in our home near Folly Beach and married last November. We are silly, happy newlyweds; I am the newest York.
By spring 2022, I knew it was time to make the leap to fine art. My last two craft fairs were Jazzfest in New Orleans in May and Piccolo Spoleto in June. I sewed until I ran out of fabric, I sold my industrial sewing machines, and then I reveled in the simplicity of pen and knife, building new stories layer by layer.
“Broken Spiral” by Jennifer York, papercut and ink in vintage suitcase, 2022
The Southern Coast is a magical world to me! I run in the mornings marveling at the tidal marshlands; meanwhile I find old suitcases and mirrors in which to build new scenes of paper and wonder. I spend the day in my light-filled home studio cutting, drawing, composing new stories in art.
“Out to Sea” by Jennifer York, paper and ink in vintage suitcase, 2023
I was a 2021 Gibbes Museum of Art Visiting Artist with “New Histories,” my first museum-hosted solo show, followed by "Estuary Blues" at the Myrtle Beach Art Museum in spring 2023. My next solo show, “Constructed Realities” opens October 13, 2023 at the Museum of Art-DeLand Downtown in DeLand, Florida.
Exhibition detail, “Estuary Blues,” Burroughs-Chapin Art Museum, Myrtle Beach, SC 2023. Artworks: “Legare Run,” “Stowaways,” and “Carry Me Home.”
I move forward to create thoughtful treasures that spark your sense of wonder and awe of this great gift we share: this incredible planet and our fleeting time on it.
Playing with “Paradise Garden” tyvek papercut in the breeze, Folly Beach, SC
Outside the studio, I am a diehard runner, a SC Journeyman Beekeeper with Jennybees Apiary, and a part-time SUP paddleboard river guide for Charleston SUP Safaris. I adore my husband, I cuddle our two kitties Thunder and Coco, I miss my family up in Indiana, and I get silly with my girlfriends.
Jennybees Honey and Apiary
My joy is creating wonder with knife and pen. I hope you will consider my artwork for your own collection. Hit me up for some magic, yo!
