Q&A with Michelle Cate
Assistant Curator at
The Art Studio, Inc.
MC: So, Jennifer where are you from and how did you get to where you are at now with your art?
JT: I was born in Fort Worth, Texas, and grew up in Mississippi. Eventually I found my way back home to Texas. While Mississippi I earned a BFA in graphic arts. I’ve been educating students in art in Orange, Beaumont, Houston, and Fort Worth. I discovered long ago how exciting the act of creating is. Sharing the excitement of making art has become my passion. I recently earned my Master of Fine Arts degree in Visual Communication. I’m looking forward to possibly teaching art at the college level soon.
MC: What do you like to do in your freetime?
JT: I love listening to jazz music and dancing in my living room. Traveling with friends and family has always been a thrill to me.
MC: What ideas are you dealing with in your TASI Pop- Up Show?
JT: My Life experiences are what shape my journey as an artist and designer. In this series I am exploring a creative practice of collaging images, printing, or designing in the context of a narrative. Our lives are all intertwined through the fabric of life. I use a single thread, strand, or fiber is presented between elements, whether it be tangible or intangible. I’m a fan of found objects, fibers, words, and images from magazines around the 1920s to the 1980s. They each lend history, authenticity, and objectivity. This ephemeral visual history has been placed before us through photos, billboards, magazines, colors, shapes, and symbols and have become increasingly present, as part of the embedded visual culture. Throughout most of the 20th century, depictions of food, clothing, customs, and every aspect of daily life were published in magazines providing a visual context of American culture. The arts have played an essential role through growth in American culture and bridge the gap between cultural differences to find common ground where words have failed.
www.jennifergthompson.com
The artwork is on view in the Pop-Up Gallery at The Art Studio, Inc. Feb. 4 through Feb. 27 or virtually at www.artstudio.org