About Jill Althouse-Wood
writer and artist
Jill Althouse-Wood was born and raised in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania in the heart of Dutch country. The oldest daughter of two teachers, Jill grew up surrounded by books, and she inherited both parents' love of reading. While Jill always enjoyed drawing, her pursuit of art came later when she began to design her own clothes. While in high school, Jill studied art in preparation for design school. Perhaps fearing the starving artist syndrome, Jill's father (who had been her seventh grade lit teacher) recommended she choose English as a major in college. Although Jill loved to write, she stayed on the art track, eventually forgoing the practicality of a design degree to major in fine arts at the University of Delaware.
During her college years, Jill balanced academics with her art concentrations in fibers and metals. She continued to write and won praise for her research paper on Women and Craft, which detailed the correlation between the female experience and the functional aspect of craft (over fine arts). This led to more research and an independent study, within the art history department, on quilts as an art form. In less than three years, Jill graduated cum laude with a BFA, earning the top art department award.
After graduation, Jill moved back to Pennsylvania and married Mark Wood (the reason she was in such a rush to finish college in record time). She began her career as a fabric designer for a jacquard mill, a job she would hold for fifteen years. Despite having a job that directly related to her degree, Jill felt little creative satisfaction. Over the next few years, Jill and Mark welcomed a son and a daughter into their family. As a busy mom with a full-time job, Jill found little time for artistic pursuits, but the pull to express herself continued. She chose writing as her artistic outlet. Writing required little space--just a quiet corner. It was removed from the drawing skills required for her job, set-up time was minimal, and she could fit it into her tight schedule. In the early days of writing, Jill set a goal of only 200 words a day. At first, she wrote short stories and essays, some of which were published locally. In time, and under the influence of such writers as Sue Miller and Barbara Kingsolver, Jill's commitment to daily writing started to take the form of a literary novel. During this time, Jill also designed and authored Mortalmom.com, a website that reached out to other mothers who were also trying to juggle their creative enterprises with family and work. Through this site, Jill met many women with similar agendas, and she both gave support to and received encourangement from these divine mamas.
With insight from college roommate and author, Sharon Naylor, Jill began the daunting task of querying literary agents looking for representation. When she wasn't checking (and rechecking) her mailbox for acceptance letters, Jill was busy in another of the arts--that of mothering. Jill's children had entered school and, in learning to read, had started rudimentary written journals that included artwork. Jill noticed how the interconnection of art and writing allowed her children to access thought using both verbal and visual vocabularies. A visual learner, Jill recognized the concept from her own experience. With this realization, she began to develop writing classes that encompassed the use of art. She developed techniques for journal writing that could be used restoratively as meditation, as tools for memory recall (as in writing auto-biographical pieces), toward goal realization, for use in creative endeavors, and in educational settings.
Jill has facilitated her workshops in libraries, churches, community centers, schools, domestic abuse shelters, art studios, and women’s centers. Through her exposure to these environments, Jill gained knowledge of several issues which she now actively promotes. The first is domestic violence awareness. To raise consciousness, Jill has written several articles and has contributed programming yearly for Woman to Woman, a local event that raises funds to support area shelters. The second issue that Jill has championed has been art in public education. Seeing first-hand how art can facilitate writing and innovative thought, Jill supports local art education programs by giving workshops, lecturing on art days, hanging shows, and (sadly) by writing letters of outrage when, in the face of budget crunches and/or low test scores, administrations sacrifice their arts curriculums.
These days, after quitting her design job to more fully realize her real work of writing and creating art, Jill feels a sense of balance. She spends her mornings at her laptop, and her afternoons in the painting studio.In 2007 she welcomes both the release of her first novel, SUMMERS AT BLUE LAKE (Algonquin), and a gallery showcase for her latest series of paintings which is currently in progress. Jill has already completed a follow-up novel to SUMMERS AT BLUE LAKE and continues to write. Jill continues to reside in Pennsylvania with her husband Mark, their children, and a googly-eyed pug dog who rests at her feet while she writes.
