Ferne Jacobs Catalog Revised

Jacobs moved in a new direction in the early 2000s towards
openness, undulating appendages, and dazzling color.
Over these two decades, Jacobs left the confinement of
traditional vessels behind. Her 3D sculptures stand their
own ground. They stretch and unfurl as open-ended beings
with the interior of each piece just as visible as the exterior.
Sculptural wall pieces are dynamic and free flowing. Each
piece begins as the evolution of a line and Jacobs then lets
it develop organically. She only thinks about her next step.
The rest is a lengthy and extended process of improvisation
and natural development that lasts months.
The subtle and rich variations of color in her large rippled
wall sculpture, Waterfall, mark the beginning of Jacobs’ use
of polychromatic threads of color. Jacobs created vibrant
pieces such as Flight (figs. 12 and 13) and Collar (figs. 19 and
20), by taking apart existing thread and replying the strands
to make new color combinations. She credits artist Kate
Anderson for the idea, which expanded her color palette
almost infinitely.
In contrast, solid black pieces were a direct response to the
last few years of political turmoil, violence, death, isolation,
and social destruction. Two Angels (fig. 10), a wall sculpture
which is capped by intertwined figures engaged in struggle,
marked the start of this dark period. Jacobs honed in on
black as absolute, simple, and without variation. It was a
time in which Jacobs was absorbing how, “so much energy
was spinning into such negative outcomes.”
From these recent years came Interior Passages (fig. 9), a
web of scarlet arteries and veins that is a glimpse under the
surface into what powers us within. Always seeking light in
darkness, Jacobs created vibrant Transparent Sunlight (fig.
14), a compact, contained bundle of shavings from the sun.
She has focused on a consideration of the larger, complex
systems beyond human control that keep everything
CONNECTED CELLS, BREATHING FORMS 21