jen thario

My current project, Street Paper, involves an exploration of creating with free, widely available and often wasted local resources. All materials for this project are scavenged in 96822, which includes my residence, the university and places between. I find fiber naturally shed from local plants and botanicals such as palms, ferns, hibiscus and plumeria and break down the fibers without the use of chemicals. Most of these I find in the street or sidewalks. I combine these fibers with forms of paper which are difficult or impossible to recycle locally such as fiberboard packaging, toilet paper roll cores, junk mail and other discarded papers I find. Astrobright and other heavily colored (flyer) papers are used to dye the pulp. Various combinations of pulps and fibers are then recast into handmade paper on moulds built from salvaged wood and fabric.

A selection of sculptures and other objects.

Ideas begin somewhere. A line, a shape, a trigger, a memory, an essence of something evokes a spark in the mind. Inspirations and simple juxtapositions subsequently become the basis for other works. The studio itself has become a living dimensional sketchbook and i find i am confronted by elemental little ideas everywhere. These visual experiments, free from any definition of object as yet, are crafted with great abandon. Rudimentary in concept and beautiful in their imperfection, they are neither insignificant nor valuable. These bits and pieces form an alternative record of my artistic trajectory. They range from crude to playful to abject failures. Rather than finished objects, this show brings into view the byproducts of the creative process itself: the pre-works, the experiments, the models, the things gathered, the back stories and the oddities that cultivate in the studio.

The character of our everyday lives, although generally ignored, is often the determining factor in our interactions, attitudes, beliefs, relationships, successes and failures. We define ourselves and attribute far more weight to the extraordinary events we experience, when our daily routines can really be much more deterministic of our fate. The work created for Minutiae attempts to transcend ordinary reality not by minimizing it, but rather examining the patterns that emerge from the white noise of daily existence. The subject matter in this body of work is neither dramatic nor spectacular. It is mundane and usual and surprisingly beautiful.

‘Inner’ explores the intersection of the lines we knit around our sense of self. Inner as an adjective relates to many expressions: inner city, inner voice, inner child, inner beauty, inner peace, inner circle, inner strength, inner demons, inner sanctuary, inner workings. This body of work examines the personal evolution of how life lessons are learned, unlearned, and woven into a unique world view. Reviewing the relevance of our activities in the world at large, to gain an understanding of place, relationships and the center of our beings.