Textiles
Residency Dates: September 2025
Studio H Canada is thrilled to welcome Cricket Jergens (they/them), an emerging textile artist from Portland, Oregon, USA.
I identify as a queer, non-binary, neurodivergent, and differentially abled person. Sharing these identifiers allows me to claim the individuality of my being and ask the world to perceive me beyond gendered and societal notions of “normative” expectations.
My work is fueled by the complex dissonance of a modern human experience—dominant over and separate from the natural world. A dance between grief and hope, my art evokes visual representations of ambiguous loss of natural entities and celebrations of persistent patterns, teachers, medicine and kin. Process is essential to comprehension of my felted work as it represents a personal expression of a grieving ritual and the fusing of individuals into collective; an echoing of earthly interconnectedness, mycilial networks and coalescence. Bent knees allow flat palms to meet earth, expressing acts of care, reverence and patience–a physical prayer of grief, gratitude, and remembrance. My work aims to evoke an environmentally conscientious community of viewers through a declaration that we are a global community, equally responsible for the protection of Earth.
Materials sourced from nature engage environmental agents as collaborators, not merely subject matter. Found objects and foraged materials are essential to my practice as an action of waste-stream disruption and a gesture to generative cycles of use and reuse in opposition to the waste-driven mindset of capitalism.
In the feminized traditions of fiber arts, I frame my actions as a Queering of practice, both to call forth resistance and reclamation— to weave deeper ties with self and community, while unraveling the structures that have long confined fiber arts. My current efforts focus on expanding my fiber arts practice, expressive platform, and cultural footprint.
The Olive Grove to be developed during and beyond my residency at Studio H, will be an immersive installation of 3–7 life-sized olive tree sculptures made of raw felted wool. The space will resemble a grove, inviting viewers to walk among and share space with these ancient tree elders. The ember of intention in this instillation serves to ignite actions for peace. The inspiration came while volunteering in the olive harvest in Vuno, Albania, during the fall of Olive trees struck me as particularly poignant in a time of ongoing war, genocide, and cultural erasure—particularly of the Palestinian people. This project is not an attempt to speak for Palestine or represent an experience that is not mine. Rather, it is a reflection on the sacred and cultural significance of olive trees, and a gesture toward peace, remembrance, and reverence.
Across civilizations, olive trees symbolize peace, wisdom, and endurance. Long revered in the Mediterranean, they are associated with divine blessings and used in rituals. The olive branch remains a universal emblem of reconciliation and hope. These trees stand as resilient, living monuments—bridging generations, cultures, and weaving a tapestry of tradition and enduring spirit.
As global citizens, we are all indebted to the living world. The same psychological and cultural biases that divide us from one another are mirrored in the ways we “other” the natural world. This exhibition, through its interactive and contemplative design, invites viewers to reflect on kinship with nature and the quiet presence of our plant ancestors.
Like fibers in felting, separation dissolves, and what was once divided becomes part of a unified whole. This grove installation is both a physical and symbolic space—a call to honor what endures, what sustains, and what connects us across time, distance and difference.
About the Artist
The Yoat mountains of Southern California and surrounding land (Pasadena/Altadena)
were home for most of my life. In 2021 I resettled in the traditional homelands of the tribes of
the Confeterated Grand Rhond Community and others unrecognized (Portland Oregon), to
continue my higher education. My Waldorf education largely shaped my egalitarian worldview,
morals around sustainability and natural world kinship, and fostered my artistic skills. These
truths have propelled my path through life and education. Post BFA graduation, I have presented
a solo exhibition of original work, been accepted into three group shows, secured a artist’s
residency, and invited to interview for Artifice Podcast.
You can learn more about Cricket on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/contentsofcricket/
The next artist joining Studio H Canada International Residency is Laura Swingen from Vancouver, Washington, USA in October 2025. Stay Tuned for more information about this artist.
Artists of all media and disciplines are welcome to apply to Studio H Canada International Art Residency – please check out the link here to apply.
Check out previous posts about artists here.
Discover more from Studio H Canada International Artists Residencies
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