Jenine Bressner
[2001, Glass]
Based in Providence, RI
JB Fireworks’ RISD Craft Gallery
The quickest way to try to communicate with other people is by adorning ourselves with cultural signifiers. I know that my jewelry has been and continues to act as an impetus for communication between strangers. Ignitions are sparked when we take risks like wearing something unusual or talking with people unfamiliar to us. I want to see things I’ve never seen before, and I strive to make work that satisfies this wish.
What are some of the most important practices for your creative process?
Experimenting, playing, and trying to do something in a way I haven’t before enable me to maintain plasticity in my brain.
Sometimes that means actually getting lost and traveling on paths I don’t know in my own town, or combining seemingly disparate materials.
How does your current creative practice tie into your time spent at RISD?
At RISD, I realized that we could do things we previously thought were impossible. The amount of effort, challenge, failure, growth, and learning we squeezed into a few days made the outside world seem very coddled, in comparison.
I learned to look more closely at what already exists to try to improve upon it, how to better budget my time, and I learned that everything is possible.
Tell us about some of your main sources of inspiration.
Since I gave birth, my time is much more limited. Having tighter parameters around when I can work reminds me of Foundation assignments at RISD. The time I have in studio is spent making glass and textile components, and I assemble those into larger wearable pieces at home while my kid is asleep.
Color and light excite me and inform my work more than anything else right now.
Is there a work/body of work that you are particularly excited about sharing with us at RISD Craft this year?
I expect to have some glass chains (which match everything by default) and I’m especially having fun playing with color and texture in my flameworked glass and merino wool earrings!
Any recent press, exhibitions, achievements or awards you’d like to share with us?
I just got back from teaching Glass Flameworking at Snow Farm in Western Massachusetts, and my work will be featured in Facèré Gallery’s “Signs of Life” book and exhibition in Seattle this fall.
Anything else you’d like to share?
RISD CRAFT has the most stylish children and dogs of any craft sale I’ve ever seen! Thanks for being such a beautiful community.