JEAN MARCEL ST. JACQUES
SELF-TAUGHT SCULPTOR/TEXTILE ARTIST/NATURAL MYSTIC
The last decade and a half of my life and work has been defined by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The force of nature that blew the roof off of my house and forced me into silent meditations with my ancestors. Particularly my great-grandmother who made patchwork quilts and my great-grand father, a hoodoo man who among other things was a junk collector that recycled and up-cycled things in the 1900s. He was born in 1892. She was born in 1900.
I knew and spent time with them both as a child. I have photos of us together. I remember how their voices sound. I remember how they smelled. I remember what they held important. My wooden quilts and other works I make from wood and detritus are my way of being with the spirits of personal and communal ancestors. My workshop is also an ancestor shrine. My great-grandmother left me her quilts when she passed and my great-grandfather left his old wooden handled hammers, axes, chisels, screwdrivers, and block planes.
