The Art of Teaching

Door County artist Jenni Stultz starts a needlefelt pillow top at her Fish Creek home.

There is an old saying coined by Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw in his play Man and Superman: He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches.

But quite the opposite is true for Door County artist Jenni Stultz, whose passion for learning and doing has often made way for teaching. It is a theme that has repeated itself in almost every stage of her life, from the beginning of motherhood to post-retirement.

Stultz is an artist, though she is noticeably hesitant to accept the title when you ask her how she defines herself. If it were up to Stultz, she would be called a crafter with a crafting room. If it were up to those who know her work, she would be referred to as an artist with a studio. To keep it simple, call her talented.

A longtime Door County vacationer, Stultz and her husband moved up to Fish Creek from Milwaukee eight years ago. It was shortly before then that she saw needle felting in a magazine and decided to give it a go.

Since then, she has continued to grow in the craft, starting out with pillow tops and eventually creating embellished clothing, book covers and wall hangings. Today she sells her needle felt creations at Great Northern By Design in Fish Creek.

“I kept finding more things you could do with it and kept expanding on what I started doing and then kept expanding on that,” Stultz said. “There are still so many things I want to do yet.”

An embellished vest created by Jenni Stultz.

Once she moved here, she also began teaching needle felting at The Clearing Folk School in Ellison Bay and in her Fish Creek home. This isn’t the first time Stultz has found a passion and turned it into an opportunity to educate. In fact, the needle felter is a teacher by training, though most of it has been outside the standard classroom.

She formally taught for six years before turning her experiences toward teaching Lamaze childbirth education classes, art classes, rubber stamping, Sunday school and countless others. She retired as a group leader for Weight Watchers, where she educated members during their weight loss journey.

But one thing is clear when she takes her place at the front of the room – she never stops learning.

“I love teaching so when I get excited about something, I just love teaching other people,” Stultz said. “I found that by teaching at The Clearing, I get inspired by what other people do. I teach them needle felting then I watch what they do with it and it expands on my possibilities.”

Door County’s nature and galleries further expand those possibilities. When Stultz sees a piece of art hanging in a gallery, she observes its colors and patterns, figuring out how she can bring the design to her pillow tops and embellished clothing.

Once her items are created, she determines where the pieces would best sell at her three options: The Clearing, Great Northern and The Flying Pig. Realistic images appeal to Great Northern customers while Stultz can let her imagination run wild with her items at The Flying Pig. The Algoma shop often sells her abstract creations and craft specialty of the moment. Her precious metal clay jewelry is up for grabs at The Clearing.

But her proudest creation can be found at The Hardy Gallery in Ephraim, a highly embellished needle felt wall hanging that Stultz created and, after convincing herself that needle felting could be considered art, entered into the gallery’s juried show.

“I think of crafting as when you follow somebody else’s patterns and ideas,” she said. “But I think it moves into art when you start doing your own ideas and doing something different than what anybody else has done or different than what most people are doing with it. But I still have a hard time when somebody says, ‘You’re an artist.’”

The artist in Stultz comes out mostly at the benefit of her students. She only feels comfortable teaching a class when she is fully competent in the art or craft.

Felted owls by Jenni Stultz.

This year at The Clearing, Stultz will teach 3D needlefelting and a “Trash to Treasure” class focused on repurposing garbage, from aluminum cans to magazines to old t-shirts, into useable items like jewelry and yarn. It is just another example of the constantly evolving “student teacher” that Stultz has become.

“I dabble in just about anything that looks like it might be fun.”