Jewel
- 51 minutes ago
- 4 min read
Jewel is an American singer-songwriter and multidisciplinary artist. She has been nominated for four Grammy Awards and has sold over 30 million albums worldwide. In her studio, she works with painting, glass, textiles, and installation, using personal experience and data from nature.
In our interview, she talks about research and intuition in her work, and the ideas behind her upcoming exhibition.
Q: What was the first idea that set “Matriclysm: An Archeology of Connections Lost” in motion?
A: When Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art invited me to do a solo exhibition that would run concurrent with the 2026 Venice Biennale, my brain immediately went toward the topic of feminine memory, as it was a theme that had been holding my interest artistically, both personally and globally.
Q: How did themes of motherhood and feminine power enter the work for you?
A: The theme has been poignant for me in my life experience, as a young woman who was in the spotlight from a tender age, to my relationship with my own mother, and my mothering. Contemplating how my experience exists within a larger container that is historical, generational, and often cyclical in how industries and different cultures handle issues surrounding women’s voices, bodies, and feminine memory began to inform my work.
Q: You use ocean and celestial data to create sound. What does working with scientific information bring into your process?
A: I see open-source data as a medium with its own tension, fluidity, and brilliance, which allows me to tell a story in a unique way. I find open-source data to be a collaborative effort—a collaboration with nature. By providing a sound and light vocabulary, I hope I am strengthening a relationship between nature and the viewer of the work.
Q: For “Seven Sisters,” what were you most focused on while shaping the glass forms?
A: I was thinking about the agelessness of stars, and how glass feels equally as ageless. Its elemental sand and great heat produced a sparkling form that could glisten and reflect the data-operated light, allowing the star to shine in this new form. I paid special attention to the texture and opacity so that a feeling of mystery would remain intact when someone peered into each orb.
Q: Your paintings mix small symbolic images with personal ones. How do these elements come together for you as you work?
A: The show has recurring symbology throughout the exhibition. They are woven into the skin of First Mother, they are in the purse of This Girl Is On Fire, they are in the tree of life that sprouts from the matriarchs’ heads in the series Ceremony. And finally, in the mini paintings, where each symbol has its own moment to be contemplated. The symbols speak to pop culture of different eras, and images that are deeply embedded in the collective subconscious. Together they take on a surreal quality, like hieroglyphs from a temple of modern life.
Q: The exhibition ranges from intimate pieces to monumental works. How does scale change the way you build a piece?
A: Scale is a prominent part of my artistic dialogue. I enjoy the disorientation that comes from playing with time and scale. A thing can be ignored when small, but can seem quite sinister when it’s enlarged. I find playing with scale helps me confront my own preconceived notions and challenges my relationship with an object, forcing me to examine the underlying architecture of my thoughts.
Q: “Heart of the Ocean” turns real-time ocean data into sound. What drew you to giving the sea a voice?
A: I believe nature is always reaching for us, if only we could stop to listen. I believe we only value what we are in a relationship with. Sadly, with modern life, fewer people are getting outdoors, and so our relationship to nature has atrophied. I wanted to see if I could build a large sculptural instrument that nature itself would play. And then I wanted to see if, by being very loyal to the data, listening to and watching it would affect you in the same way as if you were outdoors. So we studied the effects of the piece on people’s brain waves, and in preliminary studies it has been shown to get people into theta brain wave states. We hope to publish a white paper on our findings in time for the exhibition.
Q: You work across painting, sculpture, textiles, glass, and sound. What helps you stay connected as you move between mediums?
A: The story drives everything. Or rather, the intense feeling a story I want to tell gives me. I want to communicate that story in a way that allows the viewer to feel it with the same level of intensity that I do—and that is what drives the choice of medium. Each medium has a certain conductivity, its own tension and pace, and so matching the right medium to the right story becomes part of the art for me.
Q: How does memory come into your process when you begin something new?
A: We are giant balls of memory. Our nerves collect sound, pain, light, and touch—recording it all into memories. We see the future through our memories. Learning to question our perceptions, to honor our memories, to release them… that is where growth happens.
Q: Looking toward Venice 2026, what direction feels most important for you right now?
A: Right now, I am focused on the execution of a few final pieces, and then I will celebrate 30 new works made. It’s been an incredible process and an incredible honor to represent Crystal Bridges and have a chance to share my practice in a broader sense with the world.
