The Sun Sunnyvale's Newspaper Photograph by Skye Dunlap Joan Schulze's work is being featured in the international art publication 'studioNotes.' Self-taught artist gains recognition 'As an artist, you are never finished' By Justin Berton De Anza art professor Jerry Eknoian gave Sunnyvale resident Joan Schulze the best academic advice she could hope for. "Quit school," he told her. Schulze, a Sunnyvale resident since 1967, began her career by taking an art class at the community college to learn more about craftsmanship and theory. "I felt like I needed a degree," Schulze said. "I had found what I wanted to do with the rest of my life." But Eknoian insisted Schulze was a rare talent who needed little instruction. In fact, Eknoian told her, the structure of assignments and forced direction were interfering with Schulze's creative expression. Now, more than 30 years later, the self-taught artist is being featured in the international art publication studio Notes. And in June, Schulze will hit the road to promote a book that details her craft and career. "We're happy to have Joan in our pages," studioNotes' Benny Shaboy said. "She's a highly accomplished artist, and our readers--who live as far away as Australia, Germany, and France--are sure to be stimulated by the breadth and variety of her activities." Schulze's textile mixed-media quilts are a rare combination of fabric graced by a collage of popular images. Paints, silkscreen, magazine clippings--a fern from her garden in one case--all make appearances in her tapestries. She said she does the messy work in her garage at her Sunnyvale home, "painting fabric, making marks, making designs--making things overlap" and saves the sewing and cutting of the fabric for her studio in San Francisco. The Potrero Hill loft, which captures a stunning view of downtown San Francisco, allows Schulze to work in peace and quiet with her textiles. "I love to feel the cloth, the silk. I love to use my hands," she said. "We all wear it, touch it, sit on it. We never think about it, and take it and look at it in another way." Schulze uses "found images" to collage her works. Found images are those that are commonly seen, such as advertising designs, but given little scrutiny. "By the time I'm finished using it," Schulze said, "it's lost all of its identity." Soon after Schulze honed her unique medium in the early '70s, a sudden popularity emerged. "Everybody liked what I did," Schulze said, "so I started selling." And cities, national governments, corporations and collectors started buying. Some of her corporate commissioners "tend not to want a social message" in their purchases, Schulze admitted, but added that a subversive element sometimes sneaks into her works with a careful dose of subtlety. Currently, she is working on a piece titled "Objects of Desire." The quilts are laced with images of woman's faces snipped from fashion magazines. One scroll is layered with the large eyes of supermodels, another, their perfect smiles. Schulze is hoping to convey what she sees as the ongoing cultural re-evaluation of beauty as a woman ages. Clocks, watches and other symbols of time are included in Schulze's work to illustrate her point. She is also busy preparing for a show that will open in Cologne, Germany, and travel throughout Europe. Schulze said watching the reaction as people view her work offers a unique lesson in skin-thickening. One urban design piece Schulze placed on the ground of a gallery gave two viewers pause. Schulze looked on from a distance as the two women wondered aloud if the artist had completed the work, noting that some of the loose fabric at the seams had not been hemmed. "They were concerned about the loose ends," Schulze said. "My answer to that is, 'Never, never.' As an artist, you are never finished." [ Back to Contents Page | Sunnyvale Sun Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, January 27, 1999. ©1999 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.