Third Degree Glass Factory- Jennifer Weigel

EXHIBITING GALLERY:  Third Degree Glass Factory
TITLE OF SHOW: Common Threads: Fusion of Fiber and Glass
OPENING DATE AND CLOSING DATE:  September 18 - October 13, 2009
CURATOR OR JUROR:  Anne Murphy
SHORT BYLINE/ DESCRIPTION OF SHOW:  In a ground-breaking exhibit, glass artists Jessica Kopitske, Jeremy Lampe, Aaron Quigley, Libby Leuchtman, and Jim McKelvey and fiber artists Sandi Shapiro, Jennifer Weigel, and Denise Williams team up to create collaborative art works that bring glass and fiber together in innovative ways.  Artists will create works together through conceptualization, process, and experimentation.  Works will be installation, functional, and fine art with emphasis on texture and color.

Third Degree Glass Factory

5200 Delmar Bvld.

St. Louis, Missouri 63108

website: http://www.thirddegreeglassfactory.com/

Submitted by fiber artist: Jennifer Weigel

•    Tell us a bit more about yourself: your location, professional affiliations, personal stuff…

I am a mixed media artist, living in Affton, Missouri with my husband, Charles Wilbur, and two cats, Samuel and Ginger.  I graduated with a Bachelor's of Fine Arts - Studio Art in Alternative Media from Webster University in 2002.  I am involved in a lot of art organizations and am especially active in the Women's Caucus for Art, although I have also been active in Art Saint Louis, the Columbia Art League in Columbia, MO, and Woman Made Gallery in Chicago, IL.

Website: http://jenniferweigelart.com/

Blog: http://chaoticblacksheep.blogspot.com/

•    How do you go about creating a piece of work and what goes through your mind from start to finish?

Much of my work is conceptual in nature.  I get an idea I want to convey and then choose materials to suit.  As a result, I work in a wide variety of media including assemblage, drawing, fiber, jewelry, installation, painting, performance, video and more.  The pieces that I have been working on for the collaborative show at Third Degree Glass Factory are different in that they are much more process-oriented and involve the creation of freeform copper wire mesh forms that are then incorporated into glasswork.  I have especially enjoyed that my involvement ends only partly into the process; it has been exciting to see what Jes Kopitske has done with what I started.

•    What is the source of your creativity? How much is from within? How much comes from outside sources?

I have never been at a loss for ideas.  Those times when I am least productive are just those times when I am least self-confident, namely because I second-guess myself and don't think my ideas are worth pursuing.  Much of my work is cathartic and allows me to vent my grievances and frustrations.  I tend to absorb the everyday aspects of my life and then morph them into art, although much of my work is also informed by more formal research.  Anything is fair game - something I read in the paper, something I saw in the road, a conversation I overheard (or even one I participated in)...  My life is absorbed and then reformed into art.  And my art and my life blur together - I don't make many distinctions between the two.

•    Could you do your art without an audience? How important is feedback?

Much of my artwork is about communicating ideas, connecting with others and starting conversations, so it would be challenging to me not to show my work.  I don't always need people to bear witness, though, and those works created to work through personal issues are generally not shown.  However, some of my work, like the pieces I am creating for the show at Third Degree Glass, are meant to be more decorative and offer me a chance to focus on just making something beautiful.

•    What is your next project?

I have been creating several very different fiber-based and wall-hung works for a solo show at the Green Center in University City entitled Relics and Reliquaries.  This show will open Saturday, October 3 and runs through Oct. 31.  It will feature assemblages of found objects and some of my embellishments in window forms, as pictured.