Jennifer "Jen" Morgan

Lives and works in Mandeville, LA

Artist statement

I create contemporary fiber portraits using wool and other natural fibers as a painter uses pigment. Combining wet felting, Nuno felting and needle felting, I build faces, clothing and atmosphere through layers of fiber, silk and texture, often incorporating beads, feathers, embroidery and found embellishments. There is no paint in my work. What appears painterly from a distance reveals itself up close as something tactile and dimensional. Portraiture is at the center of my practice because I am interested in presence—the qualities that make someone immediately and unmistakably themselves. I am drawn to expressive faces, individuality and the ways identity can be communicated through gesture, clothing, color and adornment. The slow physical process of felting allows me to build a portrait gradually, working loose fibers into an image while allowing the material itself to remain visible. Living and working in the greater New Orleans area has increasingly shaped both my subjects and the stories I want to tell. My recent work has drawn me more deeply into portraiture rooted in the people, traditions and cultural identity of this region, particularly New Orleans’ Black Masking Indian culture. Through relationships with the people I portray, my practice is evolving toward more sustained bodies of work that explore individual identity, cultural tradition and the stories carried from one generation to the next.

Artwork