I’m happy to share that my work has been included in the Indianapolis Review’s Summer Issue! You can view the site here. The IR is an online quarterly publication featuring poetry, art, and visual poetry. It is exciting to be featured alongside poets and other visual artists.
Above: screenshot of thumbnails on Indianapolis Review homepage.
Photo of banner in progress in my backyard from 2024.
I’ve been busy at the Thurber Studio and throughout the Darbo Worthington neighborhood finding sites for the community banner project I’ve been working on. Like banners I’ve made prior, these will be attached to houses, fences or other private spaces that face public walkways or roads.
NOTE: I ask that anyone visiting the studio wear a mask to keep us all from spreading illness. I will have masks available to those who don’t have one when they visit. Thank you for understanding!
Sewing Bees in July:
Friday, 7/18, 9am-12pm
Saturday, 7/19, 9am-12pm
Monday, 7/21, 12-4pm
Tuesday, 7/22, 11am-3pm
Wednesday, 7/23, 10am-3pm
Friday, 7/25, 9am-2pm
Monday, 7/28, 9am-2pm and 5:30-7:30pom
Tuesday, 7/29, 5:30-7:30pm
Wednesday, 7/30, 10am-3pm
Thursday, 7/31, 5:30-7:30pm
Sewing Bees in August:
Friday, 8/1, 9am-12pm
Monday, 8/4, 11am-3pm
Wednesday, 8/6, 10am-2pm
Thursday, 8/7, 11am-3pm and 5:30-7:30pm
Monday, 8/11, 10am-3pm
Sunday, 8/17, 9am-1pm
Tuesday, 8/19, 11am-3pm
Wednesday, 8/20, 11am-3pm
Friday, 8/22, 9am-3pm
Monday, 8/25, 10am-3pm
Wednesday, 8/27, 10am-3pm
Sewing Bees in September
Friday, 9/5, 9am-3pm
Monday, 9/8, 9am-3pm
More dates in September will be added as the project gets ready for installation, check back in August for an update or sign up for my mailing list. Email newsletter signup is at the bottom of my website homepage.
Exhibition Dates: June 30 – September 7, 2025
Reception: Thursday, July 17, 2025, 5:30-7:30p, also celebrating Tea and Empathy by Alice Traore
*Jennifer Bastian is an immunocompromised artist. She has requested that attendees to the reception Unlock Your Pain wear face masks inside the gallery. This protects her health and the health of others more vulnerable than her. Bastian appreciates the care with which attendees treat her health and her work.
at the Sauk Prairie River Arts Center (105-9th Street, Prairie du Sac)
Read more here.
Above: Untitled (Flood Quilt with Cloud Frame)
Above: Omicron Balloon Garland
Above, the community grief garland in its beginning stages.
Workshops and Open Studios are underway for the Summer at the Thurber Studio (3325 Thurber Ave)! Please join me at one of the times below:
Sewing Bee Workshops
For adults & seniors: Help Jennie begin to sew panels together for a community banner project! No registration required.
Thurs 7/3, 7/31, 8/7, 5:30 - 7:30p. Read more here,
Parks Alive at Worthington Park
Tuesday, July 8 from 5 - 7pm
The City of Madison’s Parks Alive events are held at 11 parks across the city from June-August 2025 and are a chance to visit your local park, listen to music, participate in fun, family-friendly activities, enjoy free food and get to know your neighbors. Jennie will be present with materials to work on the Community Grief Garland.
Open Studio Dates for Spring/Summer:
Thurs, July 16 from 5:30 -7:30 pm (this date may change!!)
Thurs, Aug 21 from 5:30 -7:30 pm
Thurs, Sept 18 from 5:30 -7:30 pm
Drawing, collage and fibers materials will be available for mixed media making. Jennie will be available to talk about ongoing projects. No registration required.
Process through Portraits:
Thurs, July 24, 5:00pm-7:30pm at Thurber Park registration link
Thurs, August 28, 5:00pm-7:30pm at Thurber Park registration link
What is an object that represents grief in your life? This could be something literal: a loved one's urn, a photograph of someone you've lost, or piece of clothing. Perhaps it’s something less obvious: a plant, a type of food, a piece of art. In these intimate, one-on-one sessions artist-in-residence Jennie Bastian is helping community members capture the essence of these deeply personal objects through photograph and reflection.
You can read more about my residency here, and register for workshops on the Madison Public Library calendar. Filter for “Bubbler” to see my available programs. Feel free to email me to set up a studio visit as well!
Above: three still-life photographs depict objects against fabric backgrounds.
Workshops and Open Studios are underway at the Thurber Studio:
Grief Circle Workshop:
Saturday, Feb 8 from 10am - 12pm — registration is open & almost full
Come to the Thurber Studio for a physical and emotional take on the classic sewing circle. There will be sewing, conversation around personal and societal experiences of grief, and some physical exercises aimed at finding our supportive center as makers.
Process through Portraits:
March 8 from 11am - 2pm — registration opens 2/15/25, spots are limited
April 19, 11am - 2pm — registration opens 3/29/25, spots are limited
What is an object that represents grief in your life? This could be something literal: a loved one's urn, a photograph of someone you've lost, or piece of clothing. Perhaps it’s something less obvious: a plant, a type of food, a piece of art. In these intimate, one-on-one sessions artist-in-residence Jennie Bastian is helping community members capture the essence of these deeply personal objects through photograph and reflection.
I’ll also be holding Open Studio days the last Friday of each month. Drawing, collage and fibers materials will be available for mixed media making. I will be available to talk about ongoing projects:
Feb 21 from 10:00am - 12:00pm
March 28 from 10:00am - 12:00pm
April 25 from 10:00am - 12:00pm
You can read more about my residency here, and register for workshops on the Madison Public Library calendar. Filter for “Bubbler” to see my available programs. Feel free to email me to set up a studio visit as well!
The receptions may have passed but my Grief Wave exhibition will be up until March 1 and there are many opportunities to visit with the work and engage in programming around it.
I’ll be leading public tours of my exhibition on Tuesday, February 11, 12-1:30pm and Sunday, February 23, 1-2:30pm
There’s also additional programming in the galleries at Arts + Literature Laboratory in connection to Grief Wave:
Tuesday, February 11, 6-7:30pm - Weaving Grief and Love: A community circle honoring grief and loss, facilitated by Shandra Bauer, grief tender and registered yoga teacher, and the Madison Death Collective Co-Founders Meghan Johnson and Taylor Franklin.
Saturday, February 15, 10am - 12pm - Art in the Gallery: Grief Wave, artist and educator Lesley Numbers will frame the work in GRIEF WAVE as inspiration and a jumping-off point for students to make their own artistic responses to the show. Expect to engage in some textile art and candle art using cold beeswax.
To sign up for programs at ALL, see course catalog and under “Topics,” choose “Interdisciplinary.”
Big thank you to Madison Magazine & Maggie Ginsberg for including me in the Creativity Issue. I’m in such amazing company with 22 other artists and many orgs as well. Credit goes to Maria Drews for the photos.
It is a strange time to feel like promoting oneself but I am grateful to be included in this group of creative people. Buy a print copy if you want read my interview and support local print journalism!
In Madison, WI, you can view Burning at Both Ends, an installation with work by myself and Heather Rasmussen. It’s on view at the Overture Center for the Arts from September 5-December 3, 2023.
Reception will be held Friday, October 6, 5-8pm.
Right: the artist’s daughter sees herself in the exhibition.
Graphic for Chronicles of the Chronic
In Rochester, MN, you can see my large quilt banner, “I Have Missed You (Community Care is the Intimacy I Need)” in Chronicles of the Chronic” at the Rochester Art Center. The exhibition will be on view from August 26, 2023 - April 3, 2024. Reception will be held Sunday, September 10, 1-4pm.
I will be giving a talk in person about my work on Sunday, March 17, 2024 at 1pm.
I was presented an Award of Merit at the Museum of Wisconsin Art for my piece in the Wisconsin Biennial, I have missed you (Community Care is the Intimacy I Need). You can see a full list of artists in the exhibition here.
This work is currently on view at MOWA until July, 2022.
In August and September, this work will be a part of a solo show at UW-Whitewater.
Check out the podcast:
http://badatsports.com/2018/episode-616-jennifer-bastian/
