Amber Jensen returned home to sew with her mother after receiving a B.F.A in drawing from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 2000—an experience that became the foundation of her creative practice. She began making backpacks as functional, wearable art, which eventually led her to weaving as a way to explore the durability and expressive potential of cloth. Weaving opened up a world of meditative rhythm, deep history, and tactile storytelling. Jensen’s work draws from a layered mix of influences—Appalachian overshot patterns, Scandinavian restraint, and deep respect for Indigenous relationships to material and place. Jensen thinks of her works as narrative palimpsests, reflecting her days, feelings, and evolving identity as an artist. Each work becomes a way to connect—to those who came before her and to the communities she is part of now. Jensen’s life is rooted in both the Upper Midwest and the Appalachian South—near the magical waters of Lake Superior and the temperate rainforests of the mountains. This has deepened her connection to Nordic heritage and contrasting local craft traditions. Her materials—woven wool, wood, waxed canvas, and leather—carry this sense of place, history, and belonging. Weaving, for Jensen, is both a daily practice and a way of welcoming others into something bigger than ourselves.