Art & Culture

Quietly Made: TWAC’s First Collective Exhibition features Three Artists

By Alicia de Alva | February 10, 2026

The Woodlands Arts Council (TWAC) presents “Quietly Made,” a collective exhibition featuring the work of three women artists, Jennifer Claussen, Jodi Walsh, and Brenda J. Bunten-Schloesser, on view from February 10 through April 30, 2026, at TWAC’s exhibition space. This exhibition marks the Council’s first collective presentation, bringing together multiple artists whose practices are rooted in slowness, care, and close attention to materials.

TWAC Quietly Made Art Exhibit — *The Woodlands Arts Council’s “Quietly Made” exhibition will be on display February 10 through April 30, 2026; Photo Credit: TWAC*

Working with clay, fiber, and salvaged natural elements, each artist engages in a process that values touch, patience, and the quiet transformation of the everyday. The works in Quietly Made do not rush to be understood; they invite close looking and unhurried presence as forms are folded, stitched, gathered, and shaped by hand. Natural and repurposed materials carry traces of time, use, and place, offering warmth through their restraint and familiarity.

Curated by Annette Palmer, the exhibition finds comfort in process rather than spectacle. The artists share a respect for intentional making, for working slowly, and for letting materials speak softly. Together, these works create an atmosphere of calm and quiet connection, inviting viewers to slow down, notice, and be present with objects shaped by care.

“Quietly Made is not only about decoration, but about feeling held,” said curator Annette Palmer. “In a fast-moving world, these works offer a place to pause and reconnect, with materials, with process, and with ourselves.”

About the artists

Brenda Bunten-Schloesser is a fiber artist with over 35 years of experience exhibiting nationally and internationally, including in the Republic of Korea and Denmark. A graduate of the Kansas City Art Institute, she focuses on surface design, combining traditional and innovative textile techniques to explore movement, balance, and the quiet interconnection among materials, nature, and lived experience.

Brenda Bunten-Schloesser; *Photo courtesy of TWAC*

Jennifer Claussen is an eco-artist whose work is shaped by a lifelong connection to the natural world. Working with gathered and reclaimed materials, including wood, leaves, glass, metal, and ceramic, she allows each element’s color, texture, and history to guide the form. Her practice emphasizes care, reuse, and quiet collaboration with materials shaped by time and place.

*Jennifer Claussen; Photo courtesy of TWAC*

Jodi Walsh is a self-taught artist whose work is informed by extensive travel and residencies across Europe, Africa, and the Far and Middle East. Inspired by nature and global color and texture patterns, she primarily works with clay using a folding technique known as Oritatami Nendo, incorporating natural, environmentally safe materials. Her tactile installations invite close engagement and often encourage viewer participation, reflecting a deep connection to earth, texture, and material exploration.