by admin | Oct 27, 2013 | Uncategorized
I’ve been working on a number of paintings, getting ready for my solo exhibit at Duane Reed Gallery. Duane Reed is located in the Central West End of St. Louis at 4729 McPherson Ave. It’s quite a beautiful section of town, a very historic feel, very pedestrian. The reception is the evening of November 15th and the show will run through January. Continuing my Echo series, I will be exhibiting six paintings. All but one of the paintings are done in multiple panels. Three of the paintings are designed in such a way to cross over with my Serendipity series, such that the paintings can be broken up. This is the first time I have created Echo paintings in which the individual panels from the paintings can be sold as complete paintings.
Here is one of the pieces, composed of three 8 foot by 1 foot panels where each panel can be sold individually.
Echo XXXIII oil on canvas 96″ x 36″
And here is another one which can be sold as either one or two paintings…
Echo XXXIV oil on canvas 72″ x 60″
by admin | Apr 12, 2013 | Uncategorized
I’ve been going pretty non-stop since, oh, January of 2012. That is when things ramped up in my life. It all began with a trip to Brittany, France with a group of people from Louisiana. Well, aside from being a full time artist, wife and mom, I also serve as the president of a small non-profit organization, NUNU Arts and Culture Collective, which has become my “other” full time job. Our organization is based in Arnaudville, Louisiana – a town of not more than 1,500 people, was the brain child of visionary artist, George Marks. The cool thing about Arnaudville is many of the people there still actively speak French, both Cajun and Creole, I, unfortunately, don’t. Our organization celebrates the language, arts and music of our region. I could go on, but it’s better if I just give the website where you can learn more about it, www.nunucollective.org.
Anyway, back to my crazy life. NUNU’s was visited back in December of 2011 by folks from the French Consulate in New Orleans. Well, they were so impressed with our little organization, and saw such similarities with another organization in Brittany, they felt we had to meet. George organized a group of us and we packed our bags and flew off to Paris, then hopped on the train to Redon to meet with Marco Félez of Les Articulteurs. After 24 hours of travel we were greeted by a most amazing host of people. They were the volunteers of a festival held there, “Bogue d’Or.” They were having their celebratory dinner and we were invited guests. Such wonderful people and what an amazing experience. We listened to traditional chant and danced traditional Brittany dance. This was the beginning of a wonderful partnership, though we didn’t know it yet.
We brainstormed about the many different ways we could work together. In Rennes, France there is a festival, La Grand Souffle that celebrates accordion music. Well, we have a whole lot of that in Louisiana. In October of 2012 the festival featured Zydeco musicians from Louisiana, a seed was planted!
Moving forward, this April, from the 19th to the 24th, our organization is hosting the first ever “Semaine Française d’Arnaudville”. Helping with the organization of this event has been a lot of work, but quite rewarding. The amazing support from community and regional leaders, the support of the French Consulate, and the connections with all the wonderful folks is simply amazing. During French Week we will have over 60 folks coming from out of state and country to attend the conference. That doesn’t even include all the people from our Louisiana region. The conference is about Creative Placemaking. You can learn more about the conference at www.semaine-francaise-arnaudville.org.
So, this is what has pretty much kept me from working in the studio for the past four to five months. It’s not easy to put the brush down for so long, but I do believe it’s gonna be worth it!
by admin | Nov 11, 2012 | 2012, Echoes
Life has been pretty crazy since oh, about last December. You see, not only am I a professional artist, I am also president of a non-profit organization, NUNU Arts and Culture Collective, that is partnering with an arts and culture organization in Redon, France, Les Articulteurs. This has meant a lot of time working on our mutual projects and two trips to France since January. Meanwhile, I have also been painting for an exhibit, “Louisiana Landscapes,” which includes artists George Marks, Lisa diStefano and myself. The show just went up at Gallery at the Manship Theater in the Shaw Center in downtown Baton Rouge. I feel incredibly lucky to have these amazing opportunities and to work with such wonderful and talented people on both sides of the Atlantic.
Here are images of the four paintings I completed for the exhibit. The reception is December 13th at 6:00 pm. I will be there, everyone is invited! Please come by if you can.
Echo XXIX, 72″ x 72″
Echo XXX, 72″ x 92″
Echo XXI, 108″ x 11.5″
Echo XXXII, 36″ x 96″
by admin | Nov 7, 2012 | 2012
My father’s last words to me were, “I don’t like this, Jill.” He struggled so hard just to say that. I held his hand and told him I couldn’t even imagine. His last words to my children were, “I love you.”
Back in March I had plans to fly to West Virginia (via Pittsburgh) a week later to see my dad, knowing he did not have much time left. But it seemed really urgent to get there so my family packed up the car, pulled the kids out of school and drove to Wheeling, pleading on the phone for my dad to “hold on, we were coming.” He did hold on and we did get to see him one last time. Hug him one last time. He passed away about 36 hours after we left to go back home. That ticket I purchased to visit my dad was used to fly up for his funeral. It was so hard to say goodbye to my hero.
Thank you for believing in me dad, believing in my talent. Thank you for not holding me back when I wanted to go to a high school exclusively for art. Thank you for supporting my education to pursue a degree in fine arts. Thank you for being the dreamer that you were and showing me that the American Dream is attainable. For being the man who went from brick layer and steel worker in the Ohio Valley, to a high powered attorney who worked for the Federal Reserve Bank in Cleveland, Ohio and Hibernia National Bank in New Orleans, LA. Thank you for showing me that when you dream big, anything is possible. You gave us some pretty big shoes to fill dad, fortunately your only expectation of us was to create our own “shoes,” to carve our own paths of success.
I love you dad.
by admin | Oct 31, 2011 | 2011
Usually, after I’ve been painting for an exhibition, I will complete the body of work, get it delivered, attend the reception, then I go through the, “post show blues.” It seems to be a normal experience for artists, at least the ones I know. So much energy goes into preparation and the event, kind of like a wedding, and then it’s over. Well, recently I completed a very large painting, the biggest painting I have painted in my career as an artist (so far) in fact. This painting drew me in, pulled me back and forth, made me fall in love, and then I had to let her go. She is on her way to Abu Dhabi to a new Westin Resort that is opening there. My wall, once filled with a canvas about 8 feet tall by 11 feet wide, is back to being empty and it feels weird. It’s not usually so tough for me to let a painting go like this. I mean, I’ve been working professionally for 14 years now. I’ve seen so many of my pieces fly away and never have become attached. I love them all, don’t think I don’t, and it’s always a wonderful surprise to happen upon wherever they may be hanging, but I don’t usually don’t remain so emotionally tied to them when they go. This one was different. I don’t know if it was the physical size that commanded, the level of growth that occurred, or maybe both of those and other factors that made me lament watching her sail off to her new destination, but she’s gone and I miss her. This is a good thing though. I hope she has this impact on others. I hope that when people in Abu Dhabi look at her, they will experience the mystery of life and light that I see reflected on the water. I hope they too will lament at having to pull their eyes away, leaving only a reflection of the image on their memory.
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Echo (un-numbered)
Oil on canvas
120″x84″ |
