Jen Boes is a fiber artist living in Grand Rapids, Michigan. When not dyeing fabric or collaging or sewing, she can be found walking, reading, or enjoying being on the water.
Latest work
I’ve been continuing to work on quilts in my series (dis)CONNECT, and occasionally dipping back into my Infrastructure series. Also, doing some forward looking by pondering some of my smaller collages ….
Gallery
I enjoy working in series. An early series considered infrastructures, how they persist over time and the challenges they face. This led into exploring the Flint water crisis, a time in which Flint’s water system faced series problems—triggered by human choices—that caused harm to innocent people. More recently I’ve been exploring some of the behind-the-scenes disconnects that led to the water crisis, and pondering other disconnects that cause challenges for communities and our world.
Blog
My first show
In November of 2019 I hung my first solo show at Monroe Community Church in Grand Rapids. Getting ready for this show has been a great experience: prepping work to hang, creating an artist statement, crafting a story, learning how to ruthlessly curate, pondering selling works, … Here are a few glimpses for you. Special …
getting unstuck
Wondering why it has been over two years since I posted? So am I! I hit a creative roadblock that stalled my sewing for most of 2017 and even into 2018. Finally in September of 2018 I wrote down a list of quilts to finish with the goal of finishing by New Years Day 2019. …
unfinished | finished
fifteens Sometimes you get stuck. And sometimes, the unfinished project sits, and sits. I started a series of fifteens, 15″ square quilts, in 2015. I was trying to work in a series, but the composition of the different quilt tops felt very disjoint. Lovely colors, though! This fall as I sorted out my unfinished projects …
About
I’m a fiber artist from Ann Arbor, Michigan.
I love combining monoprinting with other dye methods to construct complex cloth. Second and third printings add visual layers of complexity that mimic the processes at work on the subject matter. Collaging fabrics and adding line and texture with sewing, I create pieces that continue to interact with their environment: raw edges, hanging threads, shadows.
Many of the pieces on my website are for sale. Please contact me for more information
