Jen Morgan
Mandeville, LA
Louisiana contemporary fiber artist creating richly textured portraits exploring music, culture, and memory through fiber.
Message
Jennifer "Jen" Morgan is a Louisiana-based contemporary artist working in fiber. Through the slow, labor-intensive processes of wet felting, Nuno felting, and needle felting, she creates richly textured portraits inspired by the music, culture, and traditions of New Orleans. Working without paint, Morgan builds luminous surfaces from wool, silk, and hand-applied embellishments that invite close observation and celebrate the tactile qualities of handmade materials.
Her work has been exhibited internationally in Venice, Italy, through the European Cultural Centre's Personal Structures – Confluences exhibition and featured in Fiber Art Now. Morgan received First Place in New Orleans in Art: A Love Letter from the Crescent City at the R.W. Norton Art Gallery and is represented by Orleans Gallery in New Orleans.
Statement
My work is an invitation to slow down.
Using the labor-intensive processes of wet felting, Nuno felting, and needle felting, I create contemporary portraits from wool, silk, and hand-applied embellishments without the use of paint. Built through the gradual accumulation of thousands of fibers, each piece evolves over weeks, preserving traces of touch, time, and devotion.
Inspired by the music, culture, and spirit of New Orleans, I am drawn to ornament, memory, and the stories held within material. Rich textures and luminous surfaces reward sustained looking, revealing themselves slowly rather than all at once.
In a culture increasingly defined by speed and digital images, I embrace the handmade as an act of attention, creating spaces for joy, contemplation, and connection.