Jenny Welden

A Home!

I’ve been working on a series of small works this month. Heres a favorite from the batch!
Face and reverse of the small work pictured above.
An early layer of the same work
I love the textured and gestural linework happening in this small work!

In this letter I’ll announce our new home! While I plan to introduce the home itself in a future letter, this time I’ll share a bit our process of arrival, and some bits about the place itself. In this letter I send dispatches from my current liminal moving zone: The Land Between two homes. Then I’ll dive into memories from building a home from earthen materials and designing a community mural! Plus, a peek at my Sun Coat, a garment I designed for the occasion.

We closed on November 18!

Here is a corner of my (soon-to-be-former) studio as of a few days ago. It is already being desicated and torn apart bit by bit. I’ve been in the process of creating a series of daily small works on Chloe Little Foot. A handful of them are hanging from her light bar. Into the Blue is loaded on Lucey, which I’ve been methodically adding to with a much longer aperture than I’m used to. Having two machines has been a nice way to play with spans of time while working on a project; it allows me to have feedback loops of various lengths. Other mid-process works are draped about, while tools and large archival rolled works are nestled beneath Lucey’s underbelly.

Detail from one of my recent batch of small works. Many small works will debut in Scottsdale!
Natural Building Memories

Some snaps from my Yestermorrow Design-Build Natural Building certification program in Bluff, Utah, summer 2023, when I was pregnant with Mo. That summer was so formative for me in many ways. As I’m moving toward a new home, I’m looking back on this time, where together with an incredible community, I helped form a little earthen home in the desert.

Our tiny & humble but mighty Casita, made with mostly alternative and vernacular materials like lavacrete, strawbale, cobb, light-straw clay, wool insulation, hemp rebar, earthen flooring, and clay-lime plasters.
Bluff is a special place. The quality of the light was lovely to me.
I brought along the double wedding ring project, which I worked at daily (the piece has changed so much and come so far since then!)
The deep window well of the kitchen was my favorite perch during community meal prep times.
The Build Process
We started each day with a stretch circle.
We learned through doing. Here we are building a rubble trench foundation with a french drain.

Lavacrete stem wall building
Lots of hard work in the hot sun. I was very pregnant and intimidated but the entire team embraced me and honored my unique needs.
Making full size adobe bricks, and…
Minis, just for fun! They take almost as long to make as their full-size counterparts.
Anton gifted each of us one of these mini adobe bricks as a memento of our time building together in Bluff.
After the stemwall, we stacked straw bales. Wobbly at first. Great insulative properties.
The biggest needles I’ve ever used. Hand forged by mentor and friend Gurudas Bock!
We used them to stitch the straw bales together. I spy the tip of a needle. It’s literally quilting!
Once the bales are in place and stitched, the box beam came down to cinch.

Carl and I prepping light clay straw for the interior walls.

First coat with clay slip, plus the beginnings of a Cobb/stone bench.
Mixing clay the easy way
The difference between a first coat with clay slip and a later coat with finish plaster is immense!
Learning about decorative plastering. Food for thought in preparation for designing the community mural later that summer!
Desert days are hot but nights are magical. Little casita glowing amongst the stars.
The Bluffoons

Designing a Community Mural

We did two mural projects using earthen pigments for Community Rebuilds in Moab, UT.

Here’s my design sketch.

Transferring sketch to the wall

This mural design let each team member have agency over their own unique elements, while still allowing cohesion in the whole wall.
Happy to see the process unfold from tiny sketch to multi-member mural.
Mixing earth pigments
🙂

My Sun Coat

In preparation for Bluff, I wanted to make a chic piece to totally protect my top half from the sun. A Sun Coat!

I finished it up at the Glenwood house while pregnant. Even put my stamp on it.
It was totally at home in the desert!
Last moments in Bluff: wearing my pregnancy dress, my heart a full basket of gifts from love and home community.

Captured by Shel when he visited me.

November Mocabulary

A thicket of scrubboak: (n) “go-in-there”

To depart a thicket in the woods: (v) “bye-bye, go-in-there”

Requesting assistance, first person: “Duh ewe need HAWP!”

Exclaimng extreme hunger, first person: “Are ewe Hungry!!”

Pecan: “pucon”

Different ways of answering the phone: “Hi Justin, this is Jenny,” or “This is Sammy and Grandpa Beel.” He will also use his imaginary phone to long-distance call Ol’ Pappy’s tractor and Ol’ Pappy’s truck.

He likes to pillage grandpa Bill’s well-ordered desk drawers. He fills up bags with the loot, then dumps it all back in the drawer. Bill says it functions like an army move.

He is getting good at putting shoes in basket upon entering the house, and putting things away in their containers. But he mostly likes to fill the container so he can “dump it!” which he does over and over.

Until next time,

Your artist,

Jenny Welden

P.S. If you’ve missed out on previous letters, find them here.

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