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PATTERN
Once upon a time there was a little girl, named Jennifer,
who didn't stay "little" for very long. As soon as
she discovered that crayons weren't for eating, she began creating
images using a rainbow of colors, depicting the fantastic characters
and their exploits that she saw in her mind's eye: dragons, castles
and princesses tucked away some tower.
The Maiden and The Unicorn
Jennifer L. Aikman-Smith grew up in Montreal, Quebec in a
family of 5 that fed her fantasy life by recounting treasured
stories of all kinds: tales of secret gardens, buried treasure,
castles and giants to books by C.S. Lewis and Madeleine L'Engle.
She wrote and illustrated her own stories, but says, "I
always got lost in making the pictures. I used to love it when
my mother read aloud because the words would paint pictures in
my head." Jennifer's mother made sure their home was always
full of arts and crafts supplies and encouraged her children
to explore their creativity, especially around the holidays.
"Mum would pick a new project each year and we would all
join in," Jennifer clarifies, "Whether to draw Christmas
shapes on foam meat trays or to glue beans, barley, peas and
seeds to neon-coloured posterboard shaped and threaded them with
variegated yarn. Can you tell I grew up in the 70's?"
Why Hoard Gold
When Jennifer was 11, she was the only Canadian child to win
the Jack and Jill magazine contest for young artists, sponsored
by The Saturday Evening Post. She won a 4-day trip to Indianapolis,
IN and got to tour the publishing company. She recalls, "I'll
never forget the moment we walked into one of the studios where
2 grown men stood, surrounded by art supplies, planning out a
colouring book... In that instant, I realized that I wanted nothing
more than to earn a living by sharing my images with other people.
Almost 20 years later the dream remains as strong."
Fantasy Wedding Blessing
Jennifer received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Mount
Allison University in New Brunswick, where she met her husband,
Nicholas Smith. They married and settled in Moncton, NB. Jennifer
began to slowly build a freelance illustration business while
working full-time as a copywriter and voice talent for a local
radio station. From there she went to work as the Art Director
for a local ad agency and became computer-literate on the Macintosh
platform. Throughout, she continued to send illustrations to
freelance markets, selling a cartoon here or illustration there,
while still drawing fantasy images for her own pleasure. She
even incorporated her own company in anticipation of self-publishing
her artwork someday and named it DRAGON DREAMS.
Dragon Dreams
In 1992, a very good friend pestered Jennifer and her husband
to try cross stitch. Jennifer reports, "I had always wondered
what could be so much fun about making a bunch of little X's
on cloth." But she dutifully picked out a Lori Birmingham
design and marched off to the craft store for supplies. She recalls,
"They tried to talk me into starting with a fridge magnet
or other little project, to which I replied, 'Look, I'm an artist
who has tried almost every craft under the sun. If it isn't challenging,
I won't stay with it!'" So Jennifer stitched her first piece
over 2 on Zweigart® Lugana® with lots of quarter stitches
and heaps of backstitching... and much to her own surprise, got
hooked! But halfway through stitching the piece, a funny thing
happened - Jennifer began to see images in her head, but this
time they were made up of little Xs! She made up a grid on the
computer and began to doodle. In no time, she was sending designs
off to magazines and stitching up models of them. Local stitchers
were soon requesting to purchase copies of charts that hadn't
yet been submitted and, with some advice from another Canadian
designer, Charland, Jennifer began to produce and wholesale her
own chart packs. Jennifer explains, "One of the things that
I love about cross stitch is the fact that no matter what type
of design you prefer to stitch, be it samplers or angels, florals
or dragons, it is all made up of the same basic little stitches
and wonderful materials."
A Castle in the Clouds
With the birth of their first child, Erin, in 1995, Jennifer
decided to take the plunge and work completely from home. When
their second daughter, Bethany, was born in 1999, things got
quite a bit more hectic. A typical day can now include anything
from logo designs, translation work, documentary writing, illustration,
voice work, packing up kits for shipping, stitching a model or
doodling out a new design... all with Erin and Bethany joyfully
underfoot.
Jennifer, Bethany, Nick and Erin
Jennifer's husband is one of her best stitchers and had repeatedly
inspired/begged her to create many of the designs in our collection
that DO NOT have a lot of backstitching. He is back in the classroom
after spending 3 years as a Computer Mentor, helping teachers
use the computers in the classroom as active teaching tools instead
of bookends! Now he is busy putting all of his technology know-how
and creativity to use in his own 5th grade classroom. Not only
is Nick a dedicated stitcher, but men in general have taken to
the themes Jennifer incorporates into her designs, especially
the big dragons. One store recently informed her that 5 of their
male customers had formed a stitching group to work on DD-43-
A Fairy Tale Sampler, which carries an inspirational poem that
Jennifer wrote, which ends "The Questing Soul Discovers
That The Hero Lies Within."
A Fairy Tale Sampler
Jennifer aims to offer stitchers designs that are just plain
fun and reflect her artistic style which incorporates large doses
of whimsy and imaginativeness. She states, "As one of my
favourite authors, Madeleine L'Engle, wrote in her book, Walking
on Water, "The artist, if he is not to forget how to listen,
must retain the vision which includes angels and dragons and
unicorns, and all the lovely creatures which our world would
put in a box marked Children Only. "
Tooth Fairy Pillows
Jennifer sees herself as an Illustrator who took up cross
stitch as a hobby and then began to see all her ideas through
a different lens. She explains, "The special fibers were
like a new box of crayons to play with. Suddenly the fibers would
let me create an effect I could never duplicate in watercolour
drawings." Many of Jennifer's design ideas are spawned when
she least expects them, so she keeps a sketchbook handy. Nick
is fond of saying that it can be like living with a gerbil if
an idea hits in the middle of the night. There's always a pen
and paper handy and Jennifer doesn't even need to turn on the
light. As Nick describes it, he just hears the "scritch,
scritch" in the dark!
Bearly a Wizard
When Jennifer was new to cross stitch, her initial works included
much tonal variation and as many as 30 colours in each design.
As she advanced in knowledge and technique she began using specialty
stitches and more diverse fibers. She says, "The beauty
of Caron's colours and the texture of the fibers themselves are
what first attracted me. Here were threads that I could stitch
with and suddenly the colour varied like magic! It gave my dragon's
wings and bodies far more mystery and subtlety without any extra
work on my part to blend threads!! I fell in love with them right
away! I also love the stitching process itself. Nick and I stitch
most of the models ourselves. ... most of our large dragons -
I just can't bear to let someone else see it come to life and
fondle the fibers!"
Moonlight Guardian
In an interesting aside, Jennifer jokes how appropriate the
fantasy theme is to her personal life. She declares, "I
come from a family of Giants!" Her father is 6"10"
and everyone else in her family is over 6' tall. She also chuckles
when she admits that even though Nick is over 6'5", he is
the tallest in his family, so there might be a recessive short
gene lurking somewhere! But both Erin and Bethany are already
well above the average height curve. Before Bethany was born,
Jennifer was an avid seamstress and made clothes to fit her statuesque
6' 5" frame. She hopes to delve into quilting in the future,
but for now has promised Nick to hold off until she's 40. He
apparently is convinced that Jennifer will begin by designing
Dragon quilts... no doubt, he's right on
target!
Dragon of the Winter Moon
Dragon Dreams Inc.
112 Highmeadow Drive, Moncton, NB, CANADA, E1G 2C4
Phone: (506) 852-9017
Fax: (506) 855-5828
E-Mail: dragondr@nbnet.nb.ca
Website: http://www.DragonDreams.accra.ca
Castle of the Mist Bellpull
Here's a treat that the near future definitely holds in store
- coming in 2001 is an exciting fantasy trilogy. This collaborative
effort between Jennifer Aikman-Smith, Teresa Wentzler and Karen
Weaver (Black Swan Designs), will include a dragon designed by
each of them in a single leaflet! Dragon Dreams leaflets are
available to stitchers through needlework retailers in more than
7 countries! Jennifer has just begun teaching at some festivals
and plans on doing more of that in the future as well.
