Interview with Jessica Gordon--April 2013 Featured Artist

Work of Jessica Gordon

Who are you and what do you do, and what is your background? 

My name is Jes Belkov Gordon, and I am an artist. I have made my career out of specializing in color. I graduated from the Atlanta College of Art with a degree in Painting in 1997. I’ve spent time painting murals and creative decorative finishes for people in their homes. I spent many years under the hat of “color consultant” where I help people pick paint colors for their homes and businesses based on personality profiles. I have a certification with the IACC-NA (International Association of Color Consultants/Designers of North America), where I studied color from scientific perspective of human reaction to the color environment. I now make paintings with the mergence of my color training and fine art study. I’m addicted to liquid color!

What's integral to your art and or art career?

Work of Jessica Gordon

The most important thing to me has been my studio outside my home. I require having a space that is only there so that I can make art. I have tried every room in my home. I have tried temporary spaces. I have tried everything imaginable. I LOVE having a sacred art space. I make more art that way. I’m comfortable and free when I go there. I’m not haunted by “other” things I “should” be doing. And I’m not faced with the tug and pull of family duties while I’m in my studio. It’s my own personal heaven!

What themes do you pursue and what medium do you use.

I am an acrylic painter and occasional mixed media artist, using paper as my sub-straight. Right now the most important theme in my work it authenticity. I used to paint what I thought was clever or what I thought would be well received. That gets old and painful. It’s important to me that I paint for the love and joy of painting. While my father was dying of cancer, he was actually prescribed painting. He was told to make art and that it might help him to heal. He never did do it. My mother was an artist, but never pursued it seriously, and after her death I felt like I needed to make my art my life’s focus again. Because of my experience with my parents, I paint intuitively. I paint with my soul. I paint me. Writers are told to write what they know; as an artist, I feel like I need to paint what I know. I know color. I love color. So right now, my work is about using forms of color to express the joy I find in painting. I’m also expressing the beauty in the seemingly broken, chaotic parts of life.

What makes you angry, what makes you happy?

Simplicity makes me happy. Painting makes me happy. Watching my son (whom I homeschool) learn something new makes me happy. Listening to my husband perform music makes me happy. Cake makes me happy. Drinking tea with girlfriends with good conversation makes me happy. Painting with others makes me happy. Going to art museums and galleries makes me happy. Indian food makes me happy. Vegan food makes me happy. I don’t like to talk about what makes me angry, I’d rather paint through that and talk about what makes me happy.

Who and what inspire you in your work and or in your life in general?

I’m inspired by everyday people. We are amazing creatures. I see friends and family going through so much pain and trouble, and yet I see them expressing kindness and love and laughter; that inspires me. I’m so inspired by other artists and what they create. I love going to artist panel discussion and talks. I’m inspired by music! What’s better than blaring the music and dancing around the studio with a brush in one’s hand… I mean, come on! That’s just the BEST!

What superpower would you want?

Work of Jessica Gordon

The power to heal physical ailments; that’s the superpower I’d want.

What is your favorite artists and or other person?

Judy Chicago, Miriam Schapiro, Faith Ringgold, Georgia O’Keefe, Josef Albers, Paul Klee, etc, etc, etc…

What advice would you give to other artists.

Seek out some intuitive painting or creative techniques. These tools are so important to have in our back pocket for those days when excuses and blocks make creating difficult. I find that it’s always best to work on a couple things at once, so you are taking any one painting or piece too seriously. Don’t force it; meaning that when you feel like you don’t know what to do next with something that you are working on, take a break and ask the piece what it wants. Journaling a conversation with your piece can go a long way… I highly recommend it. Believe in yourself, and don’t quit. I think it’s important that when you are in the arts, you know that other people’s opinions are just that; opinions. If you are creating something that you love and are addicted to creating, then it has a place in this world. High art

isn’t always the best fit for all of us; there is an audience for everything! Do what you love and never give up!

Contact details if any?

Jes Belkov Gordon

www.bucketsofcolor.com

bucketsofcolor@yahoo.com

410-507-7991

You can find me at Sycamore Place Gallery & Studios in Decatur

Let's get to know our Members--Ashley L. Schick

Post/Card work of Ashley L. Schick

Today it is my privilege to introduce our next WCAGA member,  Ashley L. Schick. 

She is an young but accomplished artist that works with paper and textiles. She is entering her last year of residency as one of The Creative Project "Artists-in-Studio" winners. Her work examines stories. Stories, told in her family but stories that have universal (United States of America) tone and meaning. Embroidery, book and print making create a necessity of a deep personal engagement. Inherent in her work is the Question and Answer of how the telling and retelling helps to from an individual.

In the last 8 years Ashley L. Schick accumulated a first-class art carreer from  a SCAD Honors Scholarship to Purchase Prize. Her work was published in "Artbound", "First Impressions", the "G.W. Review 28" and in 2012 "The Process of Printing with Ashley Schick".   Hor more of her achiements have a look at her Resume.

Violet Rust (collagraph) work of Ashley L. Schick

Suspend, Forget, Maintain work of Ashley L. Schick

She is the co-founder of Straw Hat Press. This company is situated at The Goat Farm. They strive to help artists turn their concepts and images into printmaking.

See more of her work and happenings as well as contact details in her Website.

Let's get to know our members--Barbara Rehg

According to Barbara Rehg, the journey is what makes everything worthwhile. The process of creating art is what she chose as her intellectual and spiritual trials. 

“While a goal is always necessary, the process of reaching for that goal is where 99.9% of our life is spent. Enjoying the daily moments, the challenges that come up and the ‘unexpected’ that the universe deals out is how we as individuals evolve and find our purpose and shape our attitudes about life.  
I view making images as my chosen process that challenges my mind and forces my spirit to find ways to soar.” (Barb Rehg Website)

Barbara Rehg’s art is also a journey in color, line, shape and texture. Her travels across the world serves as inspiration. During these travels she came upon objects or happenings like a chair, a wall, mist and through her process she transform them into an abstraction. 

She has been a member of the WCA and WCAGA since 2001 and is currently the Exhibit Chair on the WCAGA board. She is a valuable member of the art scene in Atlanta and is represented by Mason Murer Gallery. 

For more information, contact details and more art check out her website.

Regards

Corlia

Susan J. Ross at Hammonds House Museum

Please join Susan J. Ross and Doris K. Derby for an opening reception and artist talk at the Hammonds House Museum on Sunday, July 19, 2009 from 3:00-6:00 pm. The exhibition runs from July 19 - September 13, 2009.

To see more work by Susan J. Ross, please visit her website.

Ting Ying Han at Spruill Gallery

Ting Ying Han / Missing / rice / 2008 / 72"x 36" 72"

Detail, Missing

Detail, Missing

Bio:

"Ting Ying Han is a visual artist who was born at Taipei, Taiwan. After finishing a degree in International Shipping and Management, as her parents wished. She decided to leave her family and pursue her dream. Now she resides in Atlanta, Georgia and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture from Savannah College of Art and Design-Atlanta. Han’s work focuses on exploring humanity and the relationship on her personal life events. "

Artist Statement:

"After six years of being in the United States, I have assimilated new ideas through the process of being transplanted from Taiwan. I am driven by the changing and responding influences of both the past and the present. I am interested in how we, as humans, relate to each other; how mental, psychological, emotional, and physical conditions can intersect with lived experiences.

Memories are documents that retain collective visions, myths and beliefs about my homeland and my role as a woman. These memories and relationships within my family are the inspiration and motivation for an open-ended narrative of life. They remain as an inseparable and essential part of my life; this is true even though the new cultural understanding sometimes contradicts the old.

To me, making art is a way of exploring the balance between my past and present selves. This process of physically “making” objects recovers the emotional and psychological aspects of my past. This is the essence of my content. The works explore how malleable our identities are, and how individual perception of reality can influence what is accepted as truth."

Spruill Gallery Presents:

Emerging Artists 2009

Artists on the up and up.

June 19 - August 1, 2009

Featuring works by Jonathan Bouknight, Meg Aubrey, Susan Ryles, Rory Golden, Jason Kofke, Rylan Steele, Erin McIntosh, Ting Ying Han and Danny Paulette.

To see more of Ting Ying Han's work, visit her page on ArtReview

Ann Rhodes at dk Gallery

Ann Rhodes is participating in a group exhibition, The Nature of Landscape, at dk Gallery. The show also features new work by Jenifer Ahrens, Melody Boggs, Donna Cassaro-Hughes and Lena Lagergren. The exhibition runs from June 19-July 16, 2009.

Ann Rhodes, Field of Poppies, 24 x 24 in., oil on canvas

"Celebratory landscapes are the focus of my work. Personal response to the intensity of nature's force informs my painting in which loose brushwork and overlapping layers of paint represent the complexity of the universe. I am fed by nature's light and color, comforted by its underlying geometry, awed by its muscularity." -Ann Rhodes

An artist reception will be held on Friday, June 19, 2009 from 6:00-8:00 pm with music by the Bill VanDyke Ensemble. The show will benefit The Marietta Educational Garden Center: 10% of the evening's sales will be donated to the Garden Center, and donations will be accepted during the evening for the Garden Center. The Marietta Educational Garden Center, a non-profit organization located at 505 Kennesaw Avenue, remains one of the largest privately owned and maintained green spaces in Cobb County, and is a rarity in the arena of non-profits devoted to protecting our environment and promoting "green." The event is free to the public.

dk Gallery
25 West Park Square
Marietta, GA 30060
(770) 427-5377
Hours: T-W, 11-5; Th-Sat, 11-7

To see more work by Ann Rhodes, please visit her website.

770.427.5377

Temme Barkin-Leeds at Georgia Perimeter College

Temme Barkin-Leeds' solo exhibition, Deconstruction/Reconstruction, is currently on exhibit at the Learning Resource Center Galleries, Georgia Perimeter College - Dunwoody Campus.

Temme Barkin-Leeds / Deconstruction/Reconstruction: Afghanistan III / 2009 / oil on canvas / 60 x 48"

Artist Statement:

"In our increasingly globalized, chaotic, digital, teeming worlds, I am interested in the idea that universally, cultures overtake and alter the civilizations that precede them. This change can be the result of time, evolution, war, economic and social upheaval, or genocide and it is not always a sign of progress. I want to emphasize this historical process through my artistic process of deconstruction and reconstruction. Using fractured and distorted images of cultural artifacts and of people and their accoutrements, I cut and reorder the elements into a new reality. When I recombine and randomly crop images, I allow for unanticipated new images and compositions.

My current imagery is related to cultures in Greece, Afghanistan, Darfur, and even the United States where civilians are affected by the loss of a way of life they have previously known."

Temme Barkin-Leeds / Deconstruction/Reconstruction: Living in Tents / 2009 /mixed media on paper / 30 x 22"

Temme Barkin-Leeds / Deconstruction/Reconstruction: Living in Cars / 2009 / oil on canvas / 60 x 48"

Installation shot of Deconstruction/Reconstruction exhibition at Learning Resource Center Galleries, Georgia Perimeter College - Dunwoody Campus

Installation shot of Deconstruction/Reconstruction exhibition at Learning Resource Center Galleries, Georgia Perimeter College - Dunwoody Campus

Temme Barkin-Leeds / UN (Darfur) / 2009 / oil on canvas / 36 x 36" (This work is being auctioned for Genocide Intervention Network)

The exhibition runs from May 4 - June 1, 2009 and is located at 2101 Womack Road, Dunwoody, GA 30338-4497. The gallery is open Monday - Thursday, 8:00 am - 10:00 pm; Friday, 8:00 am - 4:30 pm; Saturday, 10:00 am - 3:00 pm; and Sunday: 2:00-4:00 pm. For more information, call (678) 891-3556.

Visit Temme Barkin-Leeds' website to see more of her work.

Donna Johnson at Bill Lowe Gallery

Donna Johnson / Deliverance / 2008 / 60 x 36 in.

Six works by Donna Johnson are currently on exhibit at Bill Lowe Gallery as part of the exhibition, "The Guard and the Vanguard: a Survey of New Works by SCAD Professors and Graduate Students". The exhibition runs from April 24 through May 16, 2009 and is located at 1555 Peachtree St. in the Invesco Tower, Suite 100, Atlanta, GA 30309 (404) 352-8114 www.lowegallery.com

Gerry Sattele - Wire Drawings Opening Reception

Please join us for Gerry Sattele's solo exhibition, Wire Drawings at Georgia Perimeter College - Clarkston Campus. The opening reception is tonight, April 29, 2009 from 5:00-7:30 pm at the Jim Cherry Learning Resource Center Gallery. The gallery is located on the 4th floor of the LRC bldg. at 555 North Indian Creek Drive, Clarkston, GA 30021. The exhibit runs from from April 24 through May 22. For more information, please call (678)891-3556.

To see more of Gerry Sattele's work, please visit her website.

New Work by Cecelia Kane

Cecelia Kane, Brave Hearts in the City Number 1, acrylic and oil stick

Cecelia Kane, Brave Hearts in the City Number 2, acrylic and oil stick

Cecelia Kane, Brave Hearts in the City Number 3, acrylic and oil stick

Cecelia Kane, Brave Heart Bloodflow, embroidery

Artist's Statement:

"Brave Hearts in the City are acrylic and oil stick paintings and embroideries exploring the desire for more courage (hearts) in the face of fear (staring eyes). They are part of the Harlequin Hearts series I started at the Hambidge Center in Rabun Gap, GA in November during a month-long retreat. Here are three pictures in chronological order. Number 1 is a study, numbers 2 and 3 are influenced by that painting. The fourth picture is one of the embroideries."

To see more work by Cecelia Kane, please visit her website.

New Work by Mona Waterhouse

Artist's Statement:
"In this new work I am continuing my series about life, which started with seeds and pods eight years ago. I am now interested in exploring water, one of the most essential ingredients of life.

In the triptych “Flow - Isle of Wight”, my first work concerning water, I used images taken with my digital camera on a recent trip there. I was intrigued by the marks and range of color the ocean waters left behind on the walls and steps along its beaches.

The photographs were then printed on hand made paper using my printer and encaustic was added. I strived for a veiled and flowing impression of the patterns made by the repeated movement of the tide.

I am continuing to explore all aspects of water, its beauty, importance, draught, flooding, women’s role and water, shortage of water and world politics and water." © Mona Waterhouse

To see more work by Mona Waterhouse, please visit her website.

Marygrace Perkins - Flamekeeper at Florida State University

This video documents the production and installation of Marygrace Perkins' sculpture, Flamekeeper, at Florida State University, June 2008 - March 2009.

To see more of Marygrace Perkin's work, visit her website.