This Mess Is a Place, Jenny Welden

Pertinent Throwback Letters

Still very relevant: Read my letter from December for a refresher from where we last left off

Read My Last Letter

So much growth! Then vs Now: Read my letter from April of last year

DEAR ARTIST Letter from One Year Ago

Some backstory on coming to the show:

CFA STORY from Dear Artist last June

CFA Studio Interview

When did you know art was your calling?
How has your creative journey evolved?
How do your compositions come together?
Every textile has a story?
What do you love most about the creative process?
What brought you to the Celebration of Fine Art?

While I could respond in so many different ways to these questions, watch the video to see how I responded on this particular day!

Photos from CFA

After the walls had been built and painted, the lighting track installed, and Chloe set up, but before all the art!

For broader context for the work on view, I played a silent video on loop in my studio throughout the duration of Celebration of Fine Art.

A creative highlight of the show was collaborating with Trevor Swanson to create beautiful patinaed steel armatures for my artwork.

*This Way to Freedom*, 18.5″ x 26.5″, stitched silk, cotton, chiffon, pastel, acrylic glazes, & patinaed steel, 2026

The making process of *Twelve Hands*, the modular & self-renewing artwork mentioned in my letter. Here it is in an early stage.

The making of *Twelve Hands*, the modular & self-renewing artwork mentioned in my letter

You can see Twelve Hands and other artworks peeking out from my workspace at my CFA studio.

I created this artwork, *In Case of Fire*, initially as a packing list for the CFA residency.

It features all of my studio essentials, all in once place.

Shel brought it from home during one of his visits to the show. It appealed to many visitors, and sparked a whole new concept for a body of work I’m now developing.

Every collector of an original received a homemade stitched thank you note.

I even started making stitched original greeting cards for sale.

Faces were popular, as were saguaro cacti. I have to probably make 100 saguaro cards for the show next year1

An extra special stitched thank-you to the owners of the show, featuring the names of several artists I got to know, and little icons correlating to their work. Honestly the connections with other artists and patrons made this show incredibly meaningful.

Some of the original “Dear Artist Postcards” jotted down over these last months:

The CFA artist catalogue. Check out my IG reel flipping through!

View this post on Instagram

A Few Family Pictures

Nana Deb brought Mo a special gift to the little condo: a Ukulele! He took to it right away, called it a guitar, and began singing “Lets Start at the Very Beginning” from the Sound of Music. He strums along to his own singing.

Momo and I at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix. Nana is a good photographer.

Picnics with mama at home! She does this to reduce the endless mess!

April 2026: upon returning from CFA, I still needed to move into my studio at our new house. It’s an ongoing process but we’re making great progress and I’m starting to feel a bit more settled. Here we are, rigging up the Lucey table via a pulley system like sailors. We hoisted it up two decks to get to the 3rd floor, and then very carefully through a window! During our house search, we had to eliminate certain contenders which didn’t have room for my Lucey. Thankfully she fits here.

If you made it to the end of this letter, dear artist, you get a gold star! Let me know if you did! And please reach out with any curiosities. I love to respond to your letters.

With love, Your artist Jenny Welden

Every month I send a handwritten letter to my subscribers. Here, you can see some of them and listen to me read them aloud. (Subscribe here)

Dear Artist Archives

Explore previous letters by clicking in the list below. Scroll to see snippets from previous letters.