Artist Jenny Endresen talks about her Art, Craft, and Defeating the Monsters

Chatham- based artist Jenny Endresen is a colorful individual.  I sat down with her recently  and found my interview with her to be both enjoyable and inspirational.

What other artists do you admire?

Where do I even begin?  I have been deeply inspired by various artists and art movements during different phases of my life, for example:  William Morris and the other Pre-Raphaelites were my number one obsession as a thirteen year old; ten years later I’d moved on to Jackson Pollock, Joan Miro, Brancusi, and Noguchi.  After that, when I lived in Scotland in the eighties, I discovered outsider art.  Then, When I moved to Norway in the early nineties, I was smitten with folk art of every sort:  textiles, wood working, black smithery, and so forth.  Today I live in a pink house from 1770 which I call “Jenny’s Folk Art Museum”, filled with my collection of Swedish antiques, old quilts, Japanese textiles, hundreds of art books, and creations by myself as well as some rather well known artists, including: Howard Finster, Lee Godie, ZB Armstrong, Pearl Blauvelt, Madge Gill, Mose Tolliver,  R.A. Miller, Bernie Kaminski, Betty Rubble, Richard Canard, John Evans, Daniel Gonsalves, Ezzit Whurr, Steve Moseley…and more!

Tell me about your favorite medium

My mediums of choice are collage (which I can include almost anything in the piece!), as well as sculptural collage, and textiles:  weave, spin, knit, quilt, and sew.  But I’ve also made baskets out of birch roots and birch bark, and mobiles out of paper straws and Japanese book binding paper, oh! and then there are all the illustrated books I plan to make!!

Where do you find inspiration?

I find inspiration 24 hours a day just by being here on the earth-plane to experience this reality and to partake in this miracle. Even the hideous strip malls and parking lots and the existence of monsters like Bill Gates inspire me.  I am obsessed with doing everything in my power to combat the forces of evil and ugliness. I hope my creations will assist in making the world whole and beautiful again, as it was before humanity fell.

When is your favorite time to create?

Since I was blacklisted by the art world in 2020 for expressing politically incorrect points of view, it is difficult for me to make money via art; so I have to do odd jobs to survive (gardening, darning, etc.); therefore I must squeeze creation in whenever and wherever I can!

In what way do you think your art is important to society?

Since we are living in an empire of lies and basically everything society dishes out to us is fake, my creations are here to shake things up and force people to question their reality, and/or to assist people in believing that a better world is possible.

What is your motivation for creating art?

Creating, for me, is not a matter of choice.  It is like breathing for me.  I have been a creator since the moment I was born.  Or maybe even before that!

How do you define success as an artist?  And would you consider yourself a successful artist?

My “success” as an artist is not measured by financial success or words of praise from Jerry Saltz or Roberta Smith.  My success as an artist is equal to my success as a human being. In the eyes of God I am successful as an artist.  It’s all about being a good person, loving God, realizing and fulfilling my Christ-consciousness, repenting for my original sin as a fallen human, and things like that.  I don’t give a damn if this makes me “politically incorrect” for I aspire to be in this world and not of it.

Does art help you in other areas of your life?

I actually do not separate art from “life”.  It’s all one thing – creating, prayer, loving God, loving nature, learning and speaking truth, tending my garden, darning socks.  These are all threads in the tapestry of life!

See Jenny Endresen’s art on display at The Philmont Studio April 22- June 3, 2023

Location: – 110 Main St. Philmont, NY

http://www.jennyofthedesolatenorth.com/contact

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Jennys-Folk-Art-Museum/294652467909551

— Interview by Heather C. Wentworth