![]() ![]() In the 1960s, Jennifer Regan became well established as a writer in the Buffalo community she published poetry in numerous journals, and reviewed books for the Buffalo News. Regan, who later served as Erie County Executive and New York State Comptroller. ![]() Regan returned to Buffalo, getting her master’s degree from the University at Buffalo in English literature. In 1956, Jennifer Regan graduated from Smith College, in Northampton, Massachusetts. The Burchfield Penney offers this biographical sketch of the artist:īorn in 1934, Jennifer Regan was raised in Orchard Park. This piece is Long Live the King, the King Is Dead. A show of her quiltwork, titled S alvaged: The Stitched Narrative of Jennifer Regan, opens Friday, September 14, 5:30-7:30pm, at the Burchfield Penney Art Center. JENNIFER REGAN was a writer and visual artist. Once you are done looking at all the different characters and pieces of visual information, these different puzzle pieces come together to form the finished storytelling image.See this week's The Public for a centerfold featuring the work of Jennifer Regan. Can you find the bird? Think about how the bird might fit into the storyline, and what actions the bird may take to participate in this quilted scene. What do you think the plot of this story is? Is there even a plot at all? What do you think about when looking at this piece of art? Regan also uses a variety of media like sequins, metallic thread, and even a tiny little sculptural bird. Regan is following a very long tradition where people have been using quilts to tell their stories through visual communication. How can we tell stories through pictures? Jennifer Regan was a writer as well as a quilter, and very often she put the two skills together to tell stories. This adds to the concept of it being a mythical narrative from a long time ago, establishing Regan’s storytelling techniques. Although made in 1990, this quilt looks like it could be from the early 1900s with its antiquated aesthetic. The quilt also looks much older than it is. Mixed media including sequins, metallic thread, and a hobbyist bird, were sewn into the work. Even the work in the figures is gentle and careful. The imperfect fragility of hand application and the delicate, almost basting stitch on the edge make the piece feel extremely delicate to the eye. Jennifer Regan smartly combined the rigid geometry of traditional quilt making with the freedom and abstraction of freehand stitching, leading to a beautiful texture combination of tight and loose sewing. I invite you to look closer at the quilt and try to focus on the tiny details of each piece. Regan leaves us to decipher her mixed narratives. The words “Arbeit Macht Frei” (Work sets you free) are present: words associated with the concentration camp at Auschwitz in World War II. Her inspiration for The Work Ethic came from a medieval woodcut but while Adam and Eve reside in the Garden of Eden in one section, Adam puts up barbed wire and monkeys pick cotton in others. Often Regan embroidered poetry onto her “stitched narratives,” creating one story on top of another. Born in 1934 and raised in Orchard Park, she took inspiration from a variety of sources, including Franz Kafka, German Expressionism, Black Americana, and Bible stories, as well as feminism. Jennifer Regan was a quiltmaker and writer who used both her passions to create what she called “stitched narratives.” All her work is a piece of a greater whole-each work adding onto the story and continuing to speak for the artist and her themes. ![]()
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