Turning Passion into Profession
Growing up, Associate Professor of Art Fenella Belle’s artistic passions were nurtured from the start. With a painter and teacher mother, architect father, and her stepmother a documentary filmmaker, it might not be surprising Belle turned creativity into her career.
Belle received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, in fibers, at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and her Master of Fine Arts degree, in fibers, at the School of Art Institute of Chicago. Fiber art is generally considered any artwork created through textiles or fibers as the main medium. Fibers can be natural, for example cotton or silk. They can also be synthetic, such as nylon or polyester. Some examples of fiber techniques are knitting or weaving.
After college, Belle started a job teaching kids in an after school art program in Philadelphia called Prints in Progress. Belle said, “It was such a great introduction to teaching. We were embedded in the neighborhood, we got to team teach (so much fun!) we got to design our own projects and we were given a budget for high quality supplies. Everything was based on the assumption that kids should be treated as serious artists. I learned from those kids that anything is possible if you can open a door for someone. That’s pretty much what I’ve been trying to do ever since!”
Before Belle decided on her career as art teacher, she originally left college and moved to New York City and worked for the year.
“During that time I took a bunch of art classes at different schools around NY- Parsons, New School, School of Visual Arts. I loved painting but didn’t think it was something I could justify going to college for,” said Belle.
One of her classes at Parsons was an art class called Painting on Fabric that was more centered toward fashion students. She said, “Because of this class, I decided to apply to art school and ended up in Philly studying something called ‘fiber art’. It’s been an adventure ever since.” said Belle.
Fenella decided early on that she wasn’t going to try and make a living from her art. She didn’t rely on art for paying her rent, so she diversified her portfolio. She waitressed in many restaurants, worked under a hand-made paper maker, mucked stalls for a horse barn, designed exhibits, was a museum director, and taught people young and old.
Belle said, “I’ve learned something from every job, even the ones I didn’t love. The only thing I have no tolerance for is a bad boss. Life is way too short to work for someone who doesn’t treat me with respect!”
Now an Associate Professor of Art and the Chairperson of the Visual and Performing Art Department at PVCC, Belle nurtures young artists with patience, love and care.
