jprenda

While the attic was getting cleaned out yesterday I came across some old magazines I had forgotten about. Quite a few years ago my Aunt had mailed them to me. Fiber Arts The Magazine of Textiles. They all either contained photos and write-ups of my uncles work or had articles he wrote in them.

Jeff Glenn was a weaver. He made some gorgeous tapestries. I know I have some more pictures of him some where I will post when I can dig them up. I've searched all over the web for information on him and his work but had no luck.




Uncle Jeff lived on his own at a young age. After being kicked out of his parents house, for being gay, he found plenty of places to stay and plenty of people that loved him. His mother was very supportive, as were his 5 brothers and sisters, but his father would not even talk to him. Not until he was dying did they speak again. It was devestating for Jeff.

He, first, moved into a HUGE Colonial in Plainfield, NJ Where he lived with a few friends. This is where he started his weaving, with an enormous loom in his living room.

He describes his process in one of the Fiber Arts magazines:

"An airbrushed painting on canvas is laminated onto felt and cut into weft strips. These strips are then rewoven on a 16-harness loom, using two painted warps. One warp is mostly structural and serves to diffuse the painted image a bit; the second warp is threaded with thicker shiny yarns and is used for patterning. These pieces create activated surfaces within dynamic designs."



Uncle Jeff hitch-hiked his way to San Francisco, where he would stay. He continued his artwork and met his partner who owned a salon in the city. Jeffs' work was continuing to be recognized by the Fiber Arts community and has had quite a few tapestries in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

In the late 80's Jeff contracted HIV/AIDS. He got sick quick. He never gave up his love for art, though. His studios sessions had to be worked in with medications and doctor appointments. "My time is limited," he says in a 1993 interview. "I have to have a very definite idea of what I want to achieve when I get to the loom."

Jeff did a series of a dozen pieces near the end of his life. He called them the "Time Sampler Series" These works were much smaller pieces than his usual works and were given to family. I have inherited two of them.



"They're little shapes, like your day is. They breathe the power of narrative into still-life forms so that the work is both an image and a thing."

I wasn't very old but I will never forget that phone call. I saw the look on my mothers face. I watched, as if in slow motion, the phone fall and crack when it hit the hardwood floor. Not long after the phone hit, my mother did. Hands over her face, body shaking. Nothing has ever made me feel more helpless. Nothing has ever scared me more. I didn't know what else to do, so I held my mom, and I cried. We cried together.

I can't remember meeting my Uncle Jeff. I was too young when he lived here. I have so much of him with me, though, I can never forget him. The art work he left behind, the Swee' Pea doll he gave me when I was just a baby, and more.

Sometimes I catch my mom looking at me with a tear in her eye. When I ask her what's wrong she says, "You just remind me so much of Jeff." I smile and, usually, shed a tear or two myself.


I love you Uncle Jeff. Miss you.



These are some watercolor paintings, rough drafts for his weavings: