About Jeanne

Jeanne-Marklin-fabric-artistArtist Biography

Creating has been a nourishing and necessary activity since I was young. What I can’t put into words, I put into my work. Photography was my first love, working in fabric developed later.

After graduating from U.C.S.D. with a degree in Visual Communications, I worked as a freelance photojournalist in Washington, DC. It was challenging and exciting work. After I became a parent, the work schedule was too difficult for family life. I attended graduate school and received an MSW. I practiced psychotherapy with children in foster care for 10 years, while learning the techniques of quilting as an avocation. Having never been “a sewer”, there was a lot to learn.

Through workshops with master quilt artists Nancy Crow, Jan Myers Newbury, Ricky Tims, Sue Benner and others, I found my own way of working. Learning to dye fabric using the Shibori method was a revelation for me. It became a passion. Now, I dye fabric with a composition already in mind, or to explore a “what if” about color, shape or line, and then let it speak to me as I create original compositions.

Dyeing fabric is like developing prints in the darkroom and it gets my heart racing. I use many different methods, but the Japanese Shibori techniques are the most challenging and rewarding. Jan Myers Newbury has been an important influence.

Publications:

Collections

Memberships

Artist Statement

I treasure the feeling of amazement. The experience of being human can be amazing, other times, it is nature that is deeply moving. Those feelings are easier for me to express in art than words. In the studio I can create something that will help me express the feelings that are often inexpressible.