Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Featured Artist :: Authentic Arts



This week's featured artist is Authentic Arts!

Authentic Arts - Glamorous, Colorful, Natural Jewelry!

Senioritis: Name and location please.
Authentic Arts: Jenny Hoople - Beloit, Wisconsin.
Senioritis: Hi Jenny! We're working on a tribute to Frank Lloyd Wright and I was just looking at some photos of his summer home near Spring Green, Wisconsin; it looks pretty wild! Is that anywhere near where you are?

Senioritis: Can you tell us a little about yourself Jenny?
Authentic Arts: I make glamorous, colorful, natural jewelry. I grew up on a farm, graduated with a bachelor's degree in fine arts (concentration in ceramic sculpture) and a minor in geology. I work part-time in a library and on an organic farm. I married a cute little Mexican! We have an awesome bunny!!
Senioritis: That's awesome, there aren't too many farms near us but one of our aunts grew up on a farm in Kansas; seems like it would be pretty cool. Do you think your sculpting background helps you when it comes to jewelry making or are the two arts completely different (I've never sculpted or made jewelry)?

Senioritis: How would you describe your style Jenny?
Authentic Arts: Quirky, colorful, authentic, and fabulous!

Senioritis: Do you have a favorite color?
Authentic Arts: Green

green goddess

Senioritis: Are you a righty or a lefty Jenny?
Authentic Arts: Righty (but my dad and sister are leftys)
Senioritis: Yay, we finally found some leftys!! Are your dad and sister artistic?

Senioritis: Do you have a favorite quote?
Authentic Arts: "In Tavor, not many people had jobs. People had businesses or they worked on farms or they made things, like pottery or cloth, but few of them had jobs that began at one hour and ended at another hour, during which time one’s life was not one’s own. If one wanted a person like that, one had a slave."
~Sheri S. Tepper
Senioritis: Wow, I wasn't familiar with Sheri Tepper's work before doing a quick google search but what a strong observation. I read (can't remember where) that in the early 1900's the vast majority of Americans were business owners as opposed to employees, but if we fast forward just a century later, today the vast majority of Americans are employees. Sheri Tepper's quote reminds me of this fact.

gypsy cuff

Senioritis: Jenny, if you could have lunch with someone famous, past or present, who would it be?
Authentic Arts: Johnny Depp. That is all.
Senioritis: Edward Scissorhands Johnny Depp or Pirates of Caribbean Johnny Depp ;)
The guy is amazing, we have never seen him in a bad movie. One of my favorite Depp movies is The Ninth Gate.

Senioritis: What's your favorite cartoon, from now or when you were a kid?
Authentic Arts: The Smurfs! (I'm also rather fond of Spongebob Squarepants.)

Senioritis: Another Smurfs fan! I like the Smurfs but never really got into Spongebob, maybe it's because I can't swim and the whole show is underwater??

rainbow choker

Senioritis: Where do you see yourself and your business in 10 years Jenny?
Authentic Arts: I see myself selling enough jewelry to leave my part-time library job and live in Mexico with my husband and in-laws all winter!
Senioritis: Very cool!

white dove

Senioritis: Are there any websites you'd like to share with us?
Authentic Arts:
jennyhoople.com
Jenny Hoople on Twitter
Authentic Arts on Facebook
Authentic Arts on myspace
Authentic Arts Blogspot
Jenny Hoople on Tubmlr
Senioritis: Wow, you're everywhere Jenny ;) We recently set up a Tumblr site to showcase our Famous Senior of the day. We're glad to see you stepped up to your brother's challenge, we look forward to watching your art diary grow!

Senioritis: Any shoutouts before we let you go?

Authentic Arts: A shout-out to the world! Thanks for existing, it's been a good ride so far ;)

We'd like to thank Jenny for giving us a glimpse into her world of Authentic Arts. Thanks Jenny!



Garrick @ Senioritis


7 comments:

  1. What a great feature, thanks Senioritis!

    In answer your queries:

    Spring Green is close, I've been to The House on the Rock (which is crazy entertaining) but have never stopped at Taliesin because it's too awfully expensive. Also, I'm originally from near where Falling Water is in PA, though I've never been there either :( Hopefully someday I'll get to seeing some of his beautiful architecture in person.

    My lefty Dad and Sister are artistic! They used to both identify more as writers, but are currently (and cooincidentally!) turning to the visual arts for expression. My dad has started taking a lot of photographs and my sister has begun making beautiful artist's journals. Also the other two (right-handed) members of my family are very artistic!

    I embroidered a pillowcase with that Sherri S. Tepper quote on it. I prefer subversive counted cross-stitch!

    If I get to pick, I'll take Johnny Depp from Chocolat, thankyouverymuch! Actually, I'd rather have the real-life Johnny Depp to have lunch with, I'd like to get to meet the real him!!

    Thanks so much for checking out my Tumblr site, it's a lot of fun to post on there! I'll have to find the Senioritis one to follow :D

    And thanks again for the interview, it's a lot of fun!!

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  2. Oops! Missed a question :)

    The connection between sculpting and jewelry...is it any coincidence that I missed the hardest one to answer?

    Hmm...I think every art-related thing I do is connected. They all involve playing with color and shape and rhythm. Something that's very different with jewelry is that I'm not so caught up in the "whys" and can just play and enjoy the colors and textures more. Jewelry-making, however, is still a part of answering the big "why" of life, which, for me is a steady movement and search for authenticity.

    Authenticity of materials (stone, bone, wood, seeds) of relationships (being real and present and honest) of living (growing food, canning, sewing clothes, knitting sweaters, making jewelry.)

    My sculpture and art (paintings/drawings) are an exploring and searching for and understanding of the meaning of my life. Thusly life becomes the artwork and the way that I make jewelry is a natural extension of the artwork that is the way that I live my life (in a movement towards authenticity.)

    That is hard to explain, I hope it makes sense?
    Boy, did you ever open a can of worms! :D

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  3. Wow what a cool Etsy shop :D I love that rainbow choker, it looks so fun and colorful!

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  4. Jenny, it seems the hardest one to answer also offered a very interesting and well thought out response. We think that "playing with color and shape and rhythm" is a great description, not just for what you do, but for what we do, as well. All artists (visual, literary, musical) seem to play with those three things in order to create art that is meaningful to them, and hopefully, to those experiencing it as well.

    Authenticity is hugely important, too. We think that authenticity of self is one of the most challenging and rewarding parts of being an artist and putting work out for the public to devour. Authenticity of self probably best fits into your authenticity of relationships category; it involves knowing oneself and staying true to that, no matter who's looking in and criticizing. We can tell a bit about who someone is as a person by looking through the window that is his or her work. There's no use looking if that person is trying to be someone he or she is not. Great work, Jenny. Thanks for giving us an even bigger window to look through!

    We think so, too, Heather. Thanks for checking out this week's feature!

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  5. Thanks for your kind words Heather! I was looking at your photographs, I really like the one of the cornstalk, it reminds me of being in Mexico :)

    Thanks again, Senioritis, for the feature! It's places like this where I can really excercise my thinking muscles. No daily art critiques in the real world! This has given me a very good space to think about and reaffirm some things that were running around under the surface. It was/is nice to take them out and polish them up and see them again!

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  6. What a wonderful feature! Jenny is a very talented and kind person. Great to learn more about her!

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  7. Thanks GlitzGlitter ;) It was lots of fun putting Jenny's feature together.

    Although we have never met any of our featured artists (up to this point) we feel that we have gotten to know all of them a bit better through the interview process.

    There was once a famous quote that said "Tell me your favorite cartoon and I'll tell you what type of person you are." At least we think it went something like that ;)

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-senioritis