Artist Jane Reed shows this month at Silver of Oz Gallery in Benson (details below). The artist shares with Les Femmes Folles about the impact of living amongst the museums in Washington D.C., losing herself in the books of the masters, what this show (her first solo exhibit) means to her and her portfolio, and how tapping into the "great unconscious" is the most satisfying way to creation...
I was born in St. Louis, Missouri, lived half my life there, half in Northern Virginia/Washington D.C., where my husband went to work. The St. Louis area has been our home again, for six years, until arriving in Omaha this last October.
Washington D.C., with its incredible Smithsonian Museums, had great impact on my life. This is where I became an artist. I studied at the Art League School in Alexandria, Virginia. My prior educational background includes a BA in English and MA in Theater/Acting from St. Louis University.
Growing up in St. Louis, we had the beautiful St. Louis Art Museum. You would never want to go to a museum with me. I have lingered in front of paintings for a good 15/20 minutes (not a joke). I love to lose myself in art books on the Masters. Wanting to express what I see in people's faces, or the feeling that a landscape (which is already a painting by nature) evokes in me, are all reasons I now paint.
My art has been in shows around the country, and is in private collections, on the East Coast and in St. Louis. The SILVER OF OZ, is my first solo show. It has been a great opportunity for me. Even beyond the chance for exposure, as an emerging artist, it forced me to look at my portfolio/body of work - I had to choose from my subject matters, and ORGANIZE, and market. If you ask most artists, I believe most of us would rather just paint or sculpt, with creation being where all the emphasis is.
This gallery, SILVER OF OZ is artistically unique, in that its environment is filled with a founding shared love of the arts. The four artists running the gallery make an artist's experience here great.
The owner, Levent Oz is a highly creative Silver Artist /Artisan, carving beauty into metal, and teaching classes. The gallery manager, Theresa Armagan is an artist, whose works are colorful and abstract, with a great sense of composition and humor in her paintings. Lori Livingston-Hubbell is a collage artist, working in woods, metals, photos, and gold leaf. She just finished her own solo show at the Gallery, and she is married to a well-known Omaha poet, Jack Hubbell, who is also an artist, photographer.
The show has helped me see even more what I want to share with, and express to others. For me, art is all about color and motion, with no subject (even a still life) ever really being still. A subject can definitely be "caught', because it is the "..ness" or essence of a subject that makes it ART, that translates it, (very much like poetry) from reality.
My mediums are primarily Acrylic, Oil and Charcoal. I've dabbled in other mediums, and have a wish list for learning, especially sculpture.
I have an entire Colorado series, because I was so inspired by the Rocky mountains. They very much changed my painting, making my love of landscapes even deeper. My process is that I paint from my photos, and then use them as only a jumping-off place. I look at the photo, and working with the composition I chose, I go into my colors and try to express exactly how that moment in time felt to me, in its nature.
My expressionistic portraits come from real people, and also faces that come from imagination. In these, especially, my favorite paintings are the ones that truly "painted themselves", dictating to me the artist, what direction to take. I believe a lot of artists, writers and scientists feel just like I do, that tapping into the subconscious, or "great unconscious" is the most satisfying way to creation.
Yes, I do think being a woman impacts my (and many women's) art and career. I believe it still is harder for a woman to break into gallery shows around the country. Yet, here in Omaha, I have seen a stronger acceptance of women as artists, as well as noting that there are women gallery owners here.
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The art of Jane Reed is up at Silver of Oz Gallery, 6115 Maple Street, in Benson, through September 27. For more information visit silverofoz.com.
