Janine Wang is one of three GoggleWorks Summer 2022 Residents. She currently holds a BFA in Architecture from Cooper Union as well as an MFA in Furniture Design from the Rhode Island School of Design. Janine is originally from New York but now resides in Philadelphia where she works as an instructor at Tiny WPA, a non-profit that works with community members to teach them hands-on skills that they can use at home and to help improve their communities. She is also a professor at Bucks County Community College during the school year where she teaches woodturning.
Janine’s main focus during her summer residency, along with woodworking, is attempting to fulfill her dream of converting her marvelous wood pieces into functional art that can be used in everyday life. She wants to make her art more accessible and utilitarian to anyone who admires her work.
“You wouldn’t drink coffee out of a wooden piece that costs $300, or at least I wouldn’t.”
The goal would be to transform the wooden artwork that she makes into ceramic pieces that can be used on a daily basis without the worry of staining, damaging or ruining the integrity and design of the piece.
“I’m really hoping it works out—I would love to successfully continue a project that I started in 2018 at the Center for Art in Wood. For the past few years I’ve been going around Philly trying to find someone to convert my hand gesture wooden lathe-made pieces into ceramics to make them more accessible and functional. I realized I would have to do it myself.”
We asked Janine how she heard about GoggleWorks Summer Residency:
“So it actually popped up on my instagram. It also popped early enough for me to be able to have enough time to work on it and be like “Woah I really want that”. For someone in my position, you know teaching at craft schools is something that takes place in the summertime. It was great to know so far in advance about the residency.”
Janine has been working consistently since she has begun her residency and we are so excited to see the final artwork that she creates.