The “snowflake” designs are often her favorite pieces to work on, says Fowler, because she enjoys the collaboration involved with the person commissioning the work. Most people give her artwork as a gift to someone else, wanting to give something of themselves to their loved ones and using her, in essence, as a conduit to do that. “And I find that really beautiful,” Fowler says. “This past year I’ve done a lot of pieces for men in the military, their wives and children or girlfriends, and it feels like another thing that helps them reach across that distance, and that feels good.”
Silhouette portraits can be commissioned through Fowler’s Etsy shop (www.etsy.com/shop/jennyleefowler), with most people sending her a photo on the computer that she can pull up on the screen to work from, just as if the subject were sitting in front of her. According to Fowler, some people who do what she does online use digital editing, but she sticks to the freehand technique and cuts what she sees on the screen as if it were a live sitting.
Most of her business comes from out-of-state, and Fowler always encourages the person to send the picture to her first. “I prefer to discuss the project before they buy,” she says, “so that they get what they want and I have a good, workable image to use.”
Materials
The materials for papercutting are ultimately very simple, although specialized. Silhouette paper is very thin, allowing for details to be captured with more nuance. It’s coated black on one side and white on the other, making it easier to see what you’re doing by cutting with the white side facing up. “Also, your scissors are metal, so wherever they touch the paper it can leave a small burnish mark,” she says, “so you want to work in a way that protects the finished product.” One way to do this is to cut through a double layer of paper, which also has the advantage of creating a duplicate image for the artist’s archives. It allows people to choose, too, whether they want the right- or left-facing profile.
Scissors have to be kept very sharp, and reserved only for papercutting so that the blades aren’t dulled and the hinges stay in good shape. Fowler uses specialized scherenschnitte scissors with knifelike blades for fine work, and embroidery scissors for rougher work or for teaching in workshops. Some people use cuticle or surgical scissors, she says.
Some of Fowler’s most interesting work is done using birch tree bark and leaves that she cuts into just as if they were paper, but using heavier scissors. Her kids laugh, she says, at her penchant for suddenly pulling off the road and picking up some tree bark. “It’s all sustainably harvested,” she says, “already on the ground or pieces that have fallen off. I get all of mine from within about 20 miles of home.” She looks for clear pieces without blemishes, although sometimes flaws in the natural materials can be built into the design of a larger piece. Leaves are cut into while green and then pressed, preserved by framing under glass in much the same way that pressed herbs and botanicals were kept in Victorian times. They’ll keep longer if cared for properly and kept out of sunlight.
Fowler’s interest in papercutting is a natural extension of having a family tradition of handwork and craftsmanship – traditional skills passed down to her from her parents and grandparents. “I think of craft as something that travels from hand to hand, person to person,” she says. Her father did a lot of woodworking, and her mother sewed garments for people, helping put herself through school that way, says Fowler. “I feel like that sense they had of paying attention to materials and how something is constructed, and why it’s constructed – that kind of ‘maker’s mind’ – really steeped into me as a kid. That’s one of the biggest gifts that they’ve given me.”
She studied Anthropology at Bard College, graduating in 2000, and says that while many people think of anthropology as the study of old things, she particularly enjoyed learning about the concepts of contemporary anthropology, with its emphasis on critical thinking and the different types of lenses through which we view the world.
Fowler’s papercuts have been seen in advertisements (for Neiman Marcus, among others) and in magazines, including Better Homes & Gardens and House Beautiful, and Taproot magazine, a new publication focusing on deepening connections to family and Earth. She’d like to do more projects like the one that she did with Taproot this summer, where she designed canning labels and they shared them through the magazine.
In the years to come, Fowler says, she’d like to be doing increasingly more original work, and wants to continue the collaborative projects that she enjoys. She does occasionally exhibit and do group shows, and she’d like to do more residency programs like one she did in Oregon this year, but she’s pacing herself. She enjoys other creative pastimes, too, like crochet and embroidery, but concentrates professionally on her work in paper, saying that she made a conscious decision to do so. “I need to make sure that whatever I’m throwing myself at, I can manage.” Plus she loves the process of looking closely at people. “There are people who have beautiful, unusual faces, and the lines happen a little differently, and sometimes I have to follow them a little more carefully. But every face is unique, and that’s part of the fun of it.”
For more information, visit https://www.etsy.com/shop/jennyleefowler or https://jennyleefowler.com.
[…] serves as director of Public Policy at Scenic Hudson. Jenny is an educator of 20 years and a professional artist. The two are launching a local branch of a the Baden Powell Service Association (BPSA) that […]