From millinery beginnings…

The art of hat making or millinery, to be precise, was Jeanette Sendler’s early passion. From this interest evolved her current commitment to fibre and performance art. Arriving in Scotland from East Berlin in 1991, JS studied at Edinburgh College of Art, earning a BA (Hons) followed by an MA completed in 1997, both in Theatre Costume Design. After training as a tailor for women’s clothing JS worked in the costume departments of various theatres including the Bertolt Brecht Theatre and Comic Opera in Berlin, Scottish Opera, English National Opera and the Australian Opera, Sydney.

…to now

Alongside costume production JS continues to create a line of felted hats that teeter between the functional and the theatrical. Over the past decade her interest in costume design has moved from the theatre stage to performance art and much of her recent projects now involve large-scale installations rendered in felt or paper.

Residencies

In 2004 JS undertook 4 residencies: Prestonpans, East Lothian; Wick, Caithness; Broellin, Germany; & started Drummond Community Centre, Edinburgh. The latter continued into 2005 when JS also had a residency in Shetland. She joined a felt research trip to Mongolia, continuing to teach part-time at the Edinburgh College of Art, Drummond Community Centre & in her studio in Edinburgh. She was again commissioned by the Adam Smith Theatre, Kirkcaldy, for the pantomime ‘Babes in the Wood’. In 2006 JS moved direction yet again to work with something one might think was a thing of the past – the knitting machine. Almost the first of her mind blowing creations to come off the needles were shown in an exhibition at the Museum of Arts and Crafts, Itami, Japan, & Crescent Art Gallery Scarborough, North Yorkshire. She collaborated with Barbara Ridland, Shetland, in this new field in the summer of 2006. In March 2007 Jeanette started a year long residency in the Fife town of Newburgh and after 6 months permanently relocated there.

Website – http://www.sendler.co.uk