Bubbles

Jennifer Turpin

Interview by L. Valena

Can you describe what you responded to?

I responded to a piece of visual art. It had a lot of beautiful blues and yellows in the background, and in the foreground there were a couple of humans. One’s face was visible, and the other’s wasn’t. It looked like there was some consolation. And in the background to the right it seemed like there was a group of people, like a crowd.

And what was your first reaction to that?

In all honesty, my first reaction was, “I don’t know.” And then after sitting with it for a little bit, I started thinking along the lines of, “... but next time,” or words of encouragement. But then the longer I sat with it, the thoughts kind of changed.

What happened next?

After sitting with it for a few days, and noticing that group of people, who are kind of abstract on the right side, it started to morph into more of a feeling of belonging. Wanting to belong, that feeling that you belong.

Belonging was the thing that stayed with me. After that, I was still not sure about what I wanted to do with it. Then I started getting some fabric out, and some watercolor pencils, and designing some of the fabrics. And then the thought that we run in our circles, and inclusivity, came up. Our circles may have other circles, and those kinds of ideas kept coming up. After having the fabric out, I still didn’t know what to do, but I decided to cut some circles and see where it took me.

Do you want to talk more about the construction process, how this was made?

I was doing a lot with watercolor pencils on fabric, and kind of going with some amoeba-y blobs and seeing what came out from that, and also looking at some of the existing fabrics that I had in my collection and cutting circles of varying sizes and doing the layout process. What feels right? What do I want where? What do I want to overlap?

I got those in place first, and then started putting all these teeny little stitches on the back to add more texture and direction. And then adding even more inside of the circles, but purposely making sure the pattern wasn’t repeated. One of the things with the piece I responded to, and the thought of belonging, is not going to those, “you’re better than that group” thoughts. Pulling away from all the stereotypical conversations. Your people are your people, and their people are their people. And there may be crossover, and similarities, so I wanted to have a little bit of that thought and feeling in the piece as well.

It’s such a relief to me that there isn’t a universal cool kid’s table.

Right- it doesn’t have to be us/them. There are overlaps. But that whole hierarchy still blows my mind- that it was ever there, and that it’s still perpetuated by some adults too.

Totally! “Oh, you’re still there? Bummer.” I see there’s gold thread in this piece.

Yes- and there’s silver thread. That was one of the harder things to photograph. On that blue background with the different shades of blue, the blacks and the whites, there’s silver thread crosshatched. And then in each of the circles there’s some gold thread with different stitching. And then there’s one circle that doesn’t have fabric underneath, just the gold.

I think some of the bigger thoughts kept going back to that original piece. The figure with the red curly hair just seemed so confident. I think so much of the feeling of the belonging, and that confidence and stuff, and the realization and acceptance of the fact that we’re all similar and all different. Having that purposeful choice of circles, and the circles have circles. The circles also have stitches and stuff that aren’t necessarily going in the same direction, but they’re still enclosed. It’s a hard thing to phrase out.

So many people have their own journeys, and I’m a teaching artist. I’m watching my middle schoolers struggle with a lot of stuff. Maybe that’s where some of these thoughts came from. Working with them makes me look back to my middle school experience. And then working with my high schoolers, and seeing how much more confident they are. Reflecting back and thinking about my own journey, post high school and into college. That’s where you start to truly find your people, if you get to (or choose to) go to college. When you start getting that freedom to go out and venture on your own, the circles can stay small, or start expanding. You can make it as big or as small as you want. It can travel wherever it wants- you can have bubbles, and tires, balloons. The ability to roam freely allows you to find what you’re looking for, to expand out, to include more.

How big is this piece?

It’s about 10” x 6”. It had potential to be a lot bigger, but I don’t have the patience. I was ready to send it the other day, but I realized it needed one more thing.

Can I ask what that last thing was?

I had only had horizontal lines in silver going across, and I wanted to add the vertical lines. It just felt a little empty and incomplete without adding those.

Oh wow, that really did activate it a lot! I’m so glad you said that. I think that process is so interesting.

It’s always just fun to go with my gut. And then I’ll sit and think, and sit and think. So it’s almost like my gut reaction, first impression, and then we’re acquainted, and then we’re old friends. So often the gut response is still in there, and sometimes that gut response can be the full image of where I’m going. But in this, it was totally just, “I’m going to color some fabric, and then I’m going to stop because I don’t know what’s next. And then I’m going to cut this, and then I’m going to stop.” It’s so great and also strange to not have that wholly envisioned plan in place. And then, I feel like anytime I finish a piece, there’s always that sitting with it, and seeing what feels wrong.

The thing about cell phones is you can totally have that “fuck it” mentality. I got a photo of it, now I’m going to do this thing that may ruin it, and I’m just going to do it anyway. I tell my kids that all the time. If you’re afraid to ruin it, take a picture. Now you have a photo, go do what you were going to do. 90% of the time, it’s going to be better.

Now that you’ve done this, do you have any advice for another artist approaching this for the first time?

I think just do it- give it a try. It’s such a cool feeling to be able to connect, interpret. I’m so curious what that person’s prompt was. Do we have any overlapping themes? Were they totally separate? And even if they’re totally separate, they’re still connected- having that connection and creative experience, regardless of where people are on their artistic journeys, it’s such an incredible thing to be able to do. A way to build community, even if you’re not seeing who the other person is. So basically, just do it. That would be my advice.

Call Number: C42VA | C44VA.tuBu

Jennifer Turpin is an artist, educator and musician living in Allston Ma. Primarily working in fiber, Jen likes to explore a variety of materials, techniques and alternative presentations in her art practice. When not creating visual art Jen is typically playing music or hanging with her cats Lizzy and Bigsby and husband Adam.