Artist Interview: Bird From a Wire

Name: Jennifer Swift

Name of Business: Bird from a Wire

Creative Influences: Nature, line, color and pattern.

Preferred Medium of Creativity: I love combining wire and fabric to create my stitched wire sculptures.

Brief Bio:

Jen Swift is an at home mother and artist from Plymouth, MN. She loves to play, experiment, and just enjoy the process of art. She began creating her wire and fabric sculptures after her son was born and has taken the idea and turned it into her etsy business, and publishing. She has been featured in multiple issues of Sew Somerset, and Somerset Home, and has just had a book published. The book, Creative Bloom: Projects and Inspiration with Wire and Fabric (North Light, 2010) along with her blog, Art as Usual, allow her to encourage and inspire others to lead a creative life.

Links:

www.birdfromawire.etsy.com

http://blog.birdfromawire.com 

 What is one of your earliest creative memories?

My mother was a teacher so my brother and I would spend hours after school each day as she finished up her grading and prepwork. I remember filling a huge chalkboard with elaborate drawings of princess dresses and of cloud cities (inspired by star wars). I loved the ability to draw lots and draw big. My mother says the drawings were always very detailed. I still like to draw big, but I enjoy my detail work too. The wire uses the same big movements to sculpt as my drawing and the stitching I add allows me to calm down and focus in on details.

Did your creative habits make a smooth transition into your adult life?  What did the evolution look like? 

Actually I had a lot of starts and stops with a ton of teenage angst thrown in. I drew from the time I was little and as I grew my drawings would evolve. First the princess dresses, then landscapes, then mountains, waterfalls, and trees, all the while they became more and more detailed. When I had hard things happen, or something about life confused me I would go back to those same inspirations; mountains, waterfalls, and trees. I processed everything through my art and things would make sense for a little while. I also thought of my ability to create art as something that was unique to me and helped me get through the horrible self- hating teenage years. Then when I got a job after college I used my art skills daily to design flowers but didn’t have the energy to create at home too.

If you had a creative hiatus, what event/circumstance brought you back to your creative lifestyle? 

When my son was born I went into a big depression and both my mom and my husband encouraged me to do art again. I felt God answered my “what do I do now?” prayer by handing me the wire and fabric.

 How has GOD been a part of your creative process/lifestyle? 

I see the Holy Spirit as whispering in my ear. All the creative choices I make from what color to use, to what I paint or sculpt are inspired and I truly feel that inspiration comes from God. I tried creating from me and I felt empty, I need God to fill me. He does that through my time with nature, through my love of flowers, trips to the quilt store, or the quiet times when I sketch.

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