Cisco: How do you go about choosing subjects for your pieces?

Jenny: Some of them seem like obvious choices to me. Wouldn't it be great to see Syd Barret in embroidery. I mean, he has such great hair. Hair is a big appealing factor to me, to be honest. If they've got good hair, if I'd have fun embroidering it... that's one thing. It's mainly things that I've never seen. I wanted to see musicians. I wanted to see people that were of interest to me. I wanted to see Edith Piaf and then I wanted to do Iggy Pop. I don't know... just personal favorites.

C: Are there any big projects on the horizon that we should know about?

J: Oh gosh. Sublime Stitching as a company is kind of a big project so I'm trying to grow it, develop it and make the best decisions with it. Let it be all it can be. It wants to be a lot of different things. In terms of my artwork, I'm finally in a place where I can start some new work. It's the first time in several years that I don't have a commission because I turned them down so I can get to this place and I don't quite know what I want to do next. I mean, I wanted to have the space to say, "I don't know what I want to do next. I don't HAVE to do something next." so I can see where that will lead.

C: So you're not currently working on an embroidery project?

J: No. I don't have one. I'm really looking forward to going back home and starting a new project and I don't know what it's going to be.

C: How do you handle balancing the business with your artistic career with your personal life? It seems like you have a lot going on.

J: Yeah, I think my friends get tired of me talking about Sublime Stitching all the time. So I think Sublime Stitching has kind of taken over my life. In the last year I've gotten a lot better about having a more traditional work schedule. I do not work past six. I mean, I used to work until eleven o'clock at night, I used to work all weekend and I don't do that anymore. And it's also because I'm dealing so much more with other people that are in a traditional business setting like other retailers or my agent or whomever, and I have to be available at those times. It's tough, but it's also my somewhat obsessive nature that I get so focused on something and that's what I want to do all the time. It's very difficult.

C: Are there any new Sublime Stitching patterns on the horizon that we should be watching for?

J: I always keep them a secret just so it's a surprise, but I can tell you the things that people have been asking for so much that they'll probably be coming out pretty soon. I don't know if they're going to come out this year or not, but everyone wants librarian themed patterns. That comes up continuously. Ninjas. I never would have thought it, but I get repeat requests for ninjas.

C: Let me ask you - if you had to pick ninjas vs pirates, what would you choose?

J: I have to go with ninjas, personally. I mean, I know pirates have more bling. I know it's not going to be the popular response, but I'm just going to be honest and I have to go with ninjas because they're. stealthier? I like the stealth factor.

C: I agree that in a fight, the ninja does have stealth on his side.

J: Yeah, they're minimalists.

C: I would have to think that the peg leg slows you down.

J: The peg leg, the chains, the hoop earrings. You can't wear jewelry to a throw down.

C: What do you think of Philadelphia?

J: I like it. I really like it. I think the buildings are beautiful and the people are friendly. Who was I talking to yesterday? I was saying there is such a unique attitude. There is attitude here, but it's different than New York. The people I find to be very warm and accommodating. I've had a ball during my visit.

C: Do you have a favorite portrait?

J: I do, actually. It tends to change. Marianne Faithful is actually one of my favorites. That and the Dolly Parton. I think the Dolly Parton, if I had to pick one, is my favorite mainly because when I started it I was so unhappy with it. I thought it was the worst one that I had ever started. I was just going, "This doesn't look like her." I almost abandoned it. Then I just forced myself to finish it and getting some distance from it and looking back, yeah, it's one of my favorite pieces.

C: I wanted to talk about one of your pieces in the show at Art Star. The piece on leather that you embroidered with your hair. That was the most interesting to me because I think it pushed the boundaries of traditional embroidery and made the piece more personal. Do you have any plans to continue to explore other options and materials or to incorporate personal objects in other portraits?

J: That is one reason why I started turning down commissions because nobody would commission me to do a piece like that. They ask to see what I've already done. And it's really important to me that I have the room to do that. To try other things that I get ideas about. One of those things plays into my getting truly obsessed with embroidering. I started thinking that I want to see everything embroidered. First it was, "I want to see that in an embroidery." Then it was, "I want to embroider that surface." Then it was, "Well why couldn't you use human hair to embroider something?" I started looking at everything in terms of how it could be brought together through the process of embroidery. It's actually how my brain works. It's kind of sick, I guess.

So I really like the idea of taking materials that you normally wouldn't use, but could be easily adapted to embroidery. Originally I was working with hair on fabric, but I thought that didn't really make sense. Actually, what would be really great were if it were on a surface that really spoke to the materials. I thought using leather and human hair was a lovely combination. Then I did an embroidered skateboard for an artist benefit for a skatepark. I've got these giant project fantasies. I've always wanted to do an embroidered free standing wall. A fifteen foot wall where you preset the holes and you use shipping rope in a big feather stitch. Those are the types of things that I need funding for. I need support and I need someone who understands my work and what I'm trying to do with it. There aren't many people that think like that. I love working on fabric and I love using non-traditional materials. It just became so evident to me that there are so many other ways that you can use embroidery. It's just this way of bringing two different media together.

C: I know we're excited to see what you come up with next. Thanks for taking the time out to talk with me about your work.