About
Jools Zalles was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She has been creating works of art since she learned to use scissors and scotch tape. It all started when she was five years old and would create life-size paper dolls adorned with the very best haute couture ensembles made from colorful construction paper. Branching out, she painted the family cookware with flowers of the brightest colors and learned to sew at an early age.
This creativity has carried on throughout her adult years, during which time she took a weaving workshop and was mesmerized by the textures one could create transforming woven cloth into wall-hangings and sculptures.
Jools spent thirty years in California where she continued to attend workshops creating works from clay, pine needles, felt and hand-made paper, which led her to her current projects incorporating collages of found objects, antique buttons, charms, and recycled brown paper bags.
Jools has shown her work in galleries in Marin County, California and had a one-woman show, Visions in Paper, in the town of Tiburon. Prior to that, she received honors at the Rochester Memorial Art Gallery and the Rochester Summer Arts Festival in upstate New York.
In addition, Jools has worked with interior designers, participated in artist-in-residence programs in local schools, taught adult art classes, and led a mural workshop for elementary school students at the Bay Area Discovery Museum in San Francisco.
Currently, she is a member of the Artisans Gallery, in Southport, North Carolina and teaches weaving and fiber arts at Brunswick Community College.