artist statement

As an avid researcher of historic traditions and techniques, I am also always looking for ways to make work that is of this place and this moment. I begin most of my original paper cuttings with very fluid pencil sketches. Those pages are set over other pieces of paper, and I carve through the layers with a craft knife, committing the lines. Other times, I cut portraits in the traditional freehand style— drawing directly into the paper with tiny knife-sharp scissors. My process involves close observation of our natural world, including the human figure. It also nods to folk traditions in paper cutting that rely on more abstracted forms and motifs. I look to seasons, successions, and bodies that grow and change, and bind those images to ephemerals like paper, bark, leaves, and trash.

About

Jenny Lee Fowler is a freelance artist specializing in private commissions, illustration, exhibition, event entertainment, and workshops. She snips traditional silhouette portraits and original paper cuttings. Her work has been spotted in Taproot Magazine, Design Sponge, Martha Stewart Living, House Beautiful, Better Homes and Gardens, Garden Design, Southern Weddings, NY Times and other print and online venues. Jenny is a principal artist for the Catskill Waters project. She designed five Hudson Valley Seed Company Art Packs, was the recipient of a Spring Creek Project Collaborative Retreat and a residency at Drop Forge + Tool, and was an artist-in-residence for the grand opening of the Walkway Over the Hudson. Most recently, Jenny co-curated the 2016 IN:SITE summer-long outdoor art exhibition for Century House Historical Society in and around Widow Jane’s Cave. She teaches workshops in the adult education program at New York Botanical Garden.