JessePrints and Writes

Inspired by current events, my theme for 2017 is Nourish Courage. To spread my message further and faster, I have cut the prices of my original prints and posters in half until they are gone, including my family Bible page prints. After that, I’ll only make them to order so this might be your last chance to get my original prints on dictionary, music, or bible paper at two-for-one prices, the perfect time to grab those prints you wish you’d gotten when I was still selling at the market.

My studio is where I make, market, and sell my prints, cards, magnets, and posters, and where I manage my Etsy shop. I’m serving cider with fruit and veggie snacks and am eager to interact with art lovers again so I hope you will come if you can.

If you can’t come to my opening but would like to buy my work, please go to my Etsy site – www.JessePrints.Etsy.com – where I pay the shipping on cards and posters and charge a low flat rate for prints. I haven’t changed my prices on Etsy yet so buy and pay for one, and then, in a message to seller, tell me the name of the second one you want, I will send you both for the price of one.

Down the hall from my studio, you’ll find Sacha Biese, a Goldsmith who makes luscious jewelry, and Nathan Lough, whose oil paintings are deep and beautiful.

Until we connect again,

Be well, stay strong, believe in yourself.

Jesse

500 Great Books by Women

I started this book for an independent study project when I was an undergraduate at Antioch University in Seattle. My advisor introduced me to Erica, Erica introduced me to Holly, and the three of us formed a collaboration. We wrote several sample chapters for a publisher’s proposal which we sold to Viking a month after my 50th birthday and right before I graduated from Antioch and left Seattle for Vermont to complete an MFA at Goddard College. I did the rest of my part of the reading, writing, and editing while I was working as a work-study student and doing a lot of other reading, writing, and editing for my MFA.

The focus of my studies at both Antioch and Goddard was the literary tradition of working-class women of all colors around the world. In the course of my research to discover this tradition, my heart and mind were opened in many new and wonderful ways by authors and books I had never heard of before. I started this book project so other people like me wouldn’t have to work so hard to find this tradition, and to share the passionate gratitude I felt toward these authors. Once Erica and Holly joined me, our focus broadened to include books by all women and not just working-class women.

Throughout our collaboration, the things I cared most about were that we find books written by all types and colors of women from all over the world, that our book be driven by love and not literary criticism, and that our language and assumptions be free of race, gender and class bias. Although our struggles over the assumptions and language in our book were monumental, we readily agreed to search the world for books and that if at least one of us, or one of our annotators, did not love a book, it didn’t make it in no matter how “popular” it was. Our last three criteria for inclusion, all easily agreed on, were that the book be in print no matter when it was written (this sadly eliminated too many books but we wanted people to be able to find the books we wrote about), that it be written in and/or translated into English, and that it wasn’t poetry, romance, how-to, or written for children.

Although our preface clearly describes our criteria for inclusion, including the fact that whoever wrote about the book loved the book , Viking still insisted on naming the book 500 Great Books by Women. Given the reality that the words “great books” continue to mean book lists that are heavily dominated by privileged white male-supremist literary critics and thinkers, male and female, this was an unfortunate choice of titles. In fact, the only negative criticism our book received was based on the reality that our choice of books did not honor previous definitions of “great,” which, given our intent, is actually a complement.

Our book is a worthwhile read, a good addition to any library, and a wonderful gift for any book lover you know. Now, 23 years later, it is out of print so if you find it in a used book store, which I did recently, grab one up. And if you’d like, I’ll sign it for you if you’re in Bellingham.

Celebrating my 80th birthday

Hello from Jesse in Bellingham.

I’m having an 80th Birthday Open House Saturday, March 19 from 1-4 pm

1511 No. State Street (Corner York & N. State)

I hope you will help me celebrate my joy in elderhood and my new life as a vegan. Gluten free vegan food and drinks will be served. Bring more if you like.

360-223-8278. 1511 N. State, #505, 98225.

(Sorry for the bad formatting, still learning wordpress).

Wildlife

Click on any picture to display these prints in a slide show.

Music

I learned to play the banjo as an adult and for a few years, I played for old time dances in Seattle and Montpelier, Vermont.

Click on any picture to display these prints in a slide show.

Home

Reminders of Home: I taught myself print making by drawing and carving images of things around me that I loved. Each of these images says “home” to me.Click on any picture to display these prints in a slide show.

Wordy Prints

Wordy Prints: These are my newest prints and include my prints and short quotes that I have printed with words and/or letters I have carved over the years. (Yes, I do find words and letters beautiful.) The smaller prints are on recycled dictionary and/or blank sketchbook pages. and the larger (11 x 14) prints are on pages from a family bible that came to me when my mother died. You can read more about these bible page prints at the bottom of this post.

Click on any picture to display these prints in a slide show.

Dogs

A Lot of Dogs: I began living with dogs as an adult in 1994 when I got Gretta, a young shepherd mix, who traveled all over the country with me before she died at age 14 in 2005. Shortly after Gretta died, my daughter Patricia gave me Jasper, then 7 years old. After dear old Jasper died in December, 2010, I thought I’d take a long break but then I met sweet Gracie… Someday she’ll have a print too. A lovely reality of having a dog is meeting so many other wonderful dogs and their people. With only a couple of exceptions, my dog prints are all of dogs I’ve known and loved.Click on any picture to display these prints in a slide show.

Cats

Click on any picture to display these prints in a slide show.

Bird Prints Gallery

At the end of her life, one of the only ways my mother Hazel found joy was to watch the little birds feed at the bright red bird feeder that hung from the branches of the magnolia tree outside her front room window in Centralia, Wa. I carved these prints to honor the love my mother had for the natural world.Click on any picture to display these prints in a slide show.

The Dance Shoe

I drew and carved this (my) dance shoe a number of years ago but only started using it after I ran across an unattributed quotes in an e-mail: “Life may not be the party we hoped for,but while we are here, we should dance.”