About Jenni

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About Jenni

Like many artists on Martha's Vineyard, Jenni Bick draws inspiration from the natural elements of life on an island. Her handmade books are decorated with carefully chosen stones, sea glass, shells and twigs she collects during the winter. She also utilizes handmade beads and computer enhanced photography.

But there are other elements to her designs that reflect an East-Asian influence, which comes through in the simplicity of line in the decorative elements and a color theme that relies upon muted paper tones, often cut with a swath of shimmering gold. They are individual works of art, made for utilitarian purposes.

Jenni developed a unique way of binding her books, partly through frustration with more standard techniques. The result is an innovative design in which knotted stitches group sets of pages directly to the spine. This allows the books to open flat while creating a lovely series of lines and fringe on the spine. Although Jenni has since mastered more traditional bookbinding techniques, it is her own technique that she relies upon.

Her choice of paper is integral to the design and structure of each book. She works almost exclusively with handmade paper, and favors a type called Lokta , a super strong paper that comes from the Himalaya. Harvested from a sturdy native bush, these fibers are a dependable renewable resource.

These fibrous sheets are used for the covers of each book. Her method is to tear the sheet, allowing the line of the tear to determine the flow of the design. She then layers these pieces, choosing colors and elements such as sea-smoothed stones, to complete the cover. The paper is simply glued to the cover, and then the fun begins. She works quickly, sifting through different piles of beads, pebbles, glass, and twigs until the cover feels complete. She then stitches the chosen objects to the cover. The stitching itself becomes part of the design, and the rigid lines of the thread juxtapose the more random edges of the paper background.

by Alison Murchie,
The Martha's Vineyard Times,
July 13, 2000

Jenni lives in Vineyard Haven with her husband Robby Bick, and her children Rayne, Lily and Rosie.

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