Jan Huling

Giant Praying Mantis Form Covered in Glass Seed Beads

2015

Jan Huling is an American contemporary artist, born in Chicago and raised in St. Louis. After attending the Kansas City Art Institute, she started her career in greeting card design, at Hallmark. She now works in New York City as a product designer, children’s book author and beadist. Neither sketched nor planned, her three-dimensional works draw inspiration from her travels to India and Mexico, as well as imagined, playful scenes reminiscent of childhood fairy tales and fantasies. Her work is approachable yet evocative, incorporating spiritual iconography, alongside humorous artifacts of contemporary popular culture.The armatures for Huling’s sculptures are an unpredictable mix of forms, ranging from Kewpie and Munny dolls to birds and giant insects. In addition to seed beads, her colorful sculptures incorporate a variety of found objects, such as buttons, coins, tokens and costume jewelry. Huling’s slow and meticulous beading process, the intricacy of her swirling, hypnotic patterns and the spontaneous manner, with which she approaches each new project, results in sculptures that are both delicate and alluring. Simply put, she transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary. She received a fellowship from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, in 2015.