“If you can’t go to sleep until you have done this thing, you will never rest easy. Be curious, challenge the world and yourself.”
Quick Facts
Education: Some elementary school in Aiken, SC; Self-taught
Years of Experience: 40 Years
About
Jeannie Rounsefell started creating art out of necessity. She was broke, young, a single mother, and had an urge inside of her to create something from her surroundings. Such objects were unlikely materials; unloved items and forgotten things other people had long given up on.
Forty years later, she calls herself a trash pirate (a compliment to her work). Jeannie’s creations are built on humor, irreverence, and a deep love for the absurd. She has a vast working knowledge of tools and processes, almost all of it earned through trial and error. This knowledge establishes a vast pocket of problem-solving skills, to which she implements both into her practice every day.
As for her career, her whole philosophy is that she simply creates. Jeannie follows what interests her, works with what she discovers, and allows the material to speak for itself. It is a practice grounded in freedom and curiosity. She supports herself with her making, which is what she intended and continues to do. For anyone wondering whether to start, her answer is short and clear: “Do it. If it keeps you up at night, you already know you have to.”