"On Being Present..."

“On Being Present...”

All new work by watercolor artist Judy Jaaskelainen

at Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery. 

Opening celebration: Saturday Aug. 3^rd, 5-8 P.M.

 

“My best artwork is not usually inspired by going off and seeking ‘something to paint’”, explains watercolorist Judy Jaaskelainen, “They are images that I happen upon and have the urge to stop time or somehow cause those moments to pass more slowly so that I can fully appreciate the experience.”

This is what happened to Ms. Jaaskelainen several Octobers ago while exploring the ruins at Canyon de Chelly in far Northeastern Arizona, “ I was walking up to get a closer look at the base of the magnificent Spider Woman Rock.  As I approached it a small whirlwind traveled across my path toward the stately pinnacle and it lifted and swirled the autumn yellow cottonwood leaves in a spiral that danced around the base of the rock. I stood mesmerized. I have not yet painted that picture but it is high on my list.”

 

Canyon de Chelly has provided  inspiration for the artist before. “In February in 1995, I was in the canyon with a group of photographers.  It was snowing softly and everyone had their light meters out searching for an image to photograph in the low-light conditions.  I did that too, for a few minutes but then with my camera to my eye I happened to focus on all of the other photographers in their bright colored parkas, standing in various poses hovered over their equipment to keep the snow from landing on it.  It was unexpected and was great fun to use that composition in one of my watercolor paintings later that I titled, ‘The Eye of the Beholder’.”

Ms. Jaaskelainen’s open-hearted way of seeing is the key to her art.

“At one of our local Farmer’s Markets one evening a young woman passed by dancing to the music of Dave Rentz and John Ziegler,” recalls Jaaskelainen, “She had on a colorful cap and bell-bottom jeans.  As usual, I had my camera with me and took a photo of her.  Years later I was attending one of Patty Mikles’ Advanced Watercolor classes at Yavapai College and we were toying with ‘distorting the perspective of common subjects’.  Looking through my resource photos I came upon that image and another of a clarinet player from Flagstaff who had performed at one of the Opening Receptions at our gallery.  He was hunkered down near the stairwell with his clarinet in his hand. My paintings ‘Old Town Dancer’, and ‘Sox to Match’, both, were so much fun to create and actually won awards in juried shows later that year.”

The artist finds inspiration in the day-to-day scenery of her historic Clarkdale, Arizona neighborhood. “My neighbor, Kahlil has a collection of the retro-metal lawn chairs.  One day while walking my dog, Gus, I glanced over at Kahlil’s backyard and saw he had all of his old chairs lined up along one wall of his house.  It was winter but the sun was bright and it created fascinating tangled shadows on the ground and wall from the tubular frames of the chairs. Of course I had my camera with me, took a few photos. My watercolor, ‘Warm Winter Sun’, another award winner, was the result.”

 

The new paintings Ms. Jaaskelainen is presenting as the featured artist at Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery Saturday August 3 thru October 3, 2013, are more examples of her experience of life happening on a daily basis. The artist enjoys scenes that cause her to want to stop,“ take a deep breath,  and savor a moment here and there.” She extends her thanks  to Cornville wood artist Phil Wright  for creating some of the beautiful frames used in the exhibit .

   A new painting, “Moon-gazer”, is from photos taken of a young woman who was wearing a lovely beaded head cover, bent over looking at some piece of jewelry that caught her eye at the Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery. “I asked if I could photograph her and she said, ‘Sure!’  Sorting through my resources over the past few months I knew when I looked at that photograph again that I would have fun composing a painting using that image. It was! Painting each bead was like a meditation… very calming…. And the moon…..well, I love the moon.”

    In addition to her new work at the Cooperative Gallery, Judy Jaaskelainen is also an participating member of the Verde Artist Challenge.  “I was invited to join 24 other artists in April, to do a three day kayak trip down the Verde River, arranged by the Verde Valley Land Preservation and funded by a grant.  One of the goals was for the artists to develop an emotional connection to our beautiful river and be inspired to create art that exemplifies our experience. The hope is that the persons who will see the exhibit of the “river art” will also develop a connection and sensitivity to the beauty and importance of all rivers, the Verde River in particular.”  “A River Runs Through Us”, a traveling exhibit featuring the art inspired by the river and the kayak trip, will be seen throughout Arizona.  The art will be available for purchase through an online auction with the proceeds going toward further river preservation efforts.  The paintings, sculptures, and photographs are scheduled to be presented to the public at the group’s opening reception Saturday, July 27 from 6:00 to 8:00pm at the Manheim Gallery in Old Town Cottonwood. The show will be on display there through the end of August.

“On Being Present…” is dedicated to Ms. Jaaskelainen’s mother.

“She not only taught me to walk and talk, but also to ‘see’,” explains the artist, “She would be 100 years-old this year, in November. I miss her every day.”
Opening Reception is on Saturday Aug. 3^rd, 5-8 P.M. at Jerome Artist’s Cooperative Gallery, 502 Main Street, Jerome, Arizona 86331 (928-639-4276)  www.jeromecoop.com

This exhibit can also be seen daily during regular gallery hours from 10 A.M. to 6 P.M. thru Oct. 3^rd, 2013.

"It's In My Nature"- New Works by Raina Gentry, Opening May 4th, 2013

“It’s In My Nature” 

New Works by Raina Gentry

Opening Saturday, May 4th 2013

Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery

In the past ten years, artist Raina Gentry has become a dominant force in Northern Arizona’s art world.
Her vibrant mixed-media and acrylic paintings engage the viewer with their keen compositions, play of patterns and figural representations of animals, humans and robots.
“It’s In My Nature”, her current series of new works, promises to be a highlight of the Verde Valley’s spring art season when it opens at the Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery on May 4th.

“As with much of my work, the theme is nature,” says Gentry. The title has another meaning as well, she explains, “It is in my nature to paint in a certain way.  I have a unique way of seeing and expressing nature.” Part of Gentry’s nature is her use of brilliant colors and layering of patterns and textures in the ever-evolving themes she explores, all which maintain the continuity of her distinct style. Though she never starts a series with a plan in mind, each piece informs the next.  Gentry says, “I started this body of work with the piece, ‘Symphony in the Desert.’  This painting happened very spontaneously, and I was very pleased with the results and wanted to create more like it with the desert theme, but I have little control over this stuff.” Instead, she allows the art to travel wherever it takes her and the series continued to develop a good momentum.

“ I wanted to really see what I could do with this very simple composition.  Color is the driving factor in all of these,” she said. Many of the paintings also feature rabbits, perhaps an appropriate harbinger of the spring season.  “Not sure why I chose rabbits,” said Gentry, “They just seemed appropriate for the ‘story’."

Raina Gentry is a Prescott resident and has been both student and teacher at Prescott College. The school was her initial impetus to move to Prescott from California in the 1990s. A rock climber, she was in pursuit of an outdoor education degree and, remarkably, had no serious aim towards art until heading off to the University of Arizona’s art department in the year 2000.
The creative floodgates opened in Tucson, and Gentry’s success grew in leaps and bounds.
With a previous background in business management, she is adept at managing her art professionally
Her work may be seen in numerous venues throughout the state.

“It’s In My Nature” opens Saturday, May 4th, at the Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery and runs through the end of June. The opening-night reception takes place from 5:00pm –8:00pm in conjuction with Jerome’s popular ARTwalk.
The gallery is located at 502 Main, in the historic Hotel Jerome building, and open daily from 10:00am- 6:00pm. For more information call 928-639-4276 or visit jeromecoop.com.

"Visions of Arizona": New works by Birgitta Lapides

 

"Visions of Arizona"- New works by Birgitta Lapides at the

Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery

October 6^th through Nov. 28, 2012

“I don't try to paint or make my mixed media collage the way things look. For me what is important is to catch the essence of the subject. That will say how I feel about it - not how it looks,” says mixed-media artist Birgitta Lapides of her soothing desert scenes, “I also want to create a feeling of simplicity and serenity, especially in my meditation landscapes.”

 

By using layers of thin Japanese papers that she paints and collages into her works, she is able to create landscapes that capture a mood or an essence of her beloved subject: Arizona. Her rusty oranges, warm earth tones and bright blues are clearly inspired by her visions of her adopted home state. A native of Sweden, where sunshine is a rare commodity, Lapides is enamored with the fantastic light of the desert.

   "I never go out and take photos or sketch before I start a painting,” she explains, “I listen to classical music and just try to be receptive to my feelings about what I am doing." This form of painting, from the inside out, is felt as an adventure to the artist. It's her artistic journey that excites her, and it's the adventure into the unknown that inspires her.

 

      Her beautiful materials meld perfectly with her lovely visions. “Since I took a workshop in making paper at the Haystack School in Maine I fell in love with paper- making the Asian way with very thin, delicate paper, many made from organic materials like sea weed, banana peels, etc. It is a very time-consuming but fascinating process that I cannot do at home. But I always try to find very thin white papers, often Japanese, that I paint always myself and use in my collage. By experimenting with very thin paper you can get transparency and interesting effects by super-imposing papers in different colors.”

 “Visions of Arizona” opening reception starts at 5:30pm on October 6^th, in conjunction with Jerome’s popular ARTwalk, and runs through Thanksgiving. The Jerome Artists Cooperative is located at 502 Main, and is open from 10am-6pm, daily. The opening night party will feature refreshments and a chance to chat with the artist.

“I love strong colors, simple forms, which I think adapt very well to the landscapes here in Arizona,” says Lapides,“For me it's the creation of a piece that I get completely absorbed in that is the reward in itself.”

 

For more information call 928-639-4276 or visit the gallery online at jeromecoop.com

Signs and Wonders 2012: Featured artist, RV Lovelace

"Signs and Wonders 2012"
RV Lovelace at the Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery
August 4th- October 4th, 2012

        R.V. Lovelace doesn't believe that world will end in 2012. “It is the Year of the Dragon and I was born in the Year of the Dragon," he explains the strength he feels exists inherently. "It's biblical. There's something in Revelations. Some biblical reference to end of times. The reason that I'm doing this show is because I'm not in agreement with people who say the Mayan Calendar predicts the end of the world. 
Don’t believe in the age of fear.”

       Mr. Lovelace's current featured artist show at the Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery, "Signs and Wonders 2012", opening August 4th, is a surreal cross-cultural mash-up of Asian, Native American and pop cultures. "Signs, dreams, experiences and visions I've had," the artist explains the symbolism, both spiritual and surreal as well as mundane day to day symbols such as highway road signs, "Signs of all kinds." Arriving in Jerome was a sign, "It was a sign. I came here and I felt I'd been here before." A psychic aunt told him he'd had a past life in Jerome, living there before as a merchant.
     Raised in Santa Clara, California, Lovelace is a graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute and owned his own screen printing business in Oakland prior to his permanent arrival in Jerome in 1991. A founding member of the Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery since its inception in 1996, Lovelace has work in collections nationwide, including the home of Maria Elena Holly, Buddy Holly’s widow in Texas. Inspired by film noir, surrealism, Mid-Century Modern, Populuxe and Googie styles, primitive art and mythology, petroglyphs and pictographs, roadside signs and science fiction, Lovelace says "I'm a blender. I find things in different cultures that relate and I blend them together. Hopi, Navajo, Asian, American pop culture."

The artist's dreamlike images, created with airbrush, water-based pigments, mixed media and colored pencil convey an intensity, an electricity, a kinetic energy. His "Retro-Vision Lexicon", as he calls it (matching his initials, R.V.L.), is enigmatic storytelling, “It is a magical invention of mysterious suggestion, " he says, "The stream of consciousness is filled with the flotsam and jetsam of dreams and everyday events.”   

      In keeping with the Year of the Dragon inspiration, Lovelace's customary mash-up of the past, present and future is blended with mystical Asian motifs, including dragons, symbols of luck and elements from Chinese "joss paper". Joss paper is gift-wrap for the dead, covered with pictures of jewelry, automobiles, cars, candy, appliances. The paper is an offering, burnt to share the symbolic gifts with the spirit world. Growing up near San Francisco's famous Chinatown, Lovelace says, “I was always trying to talk my dad into taking me there. Mostly to buy fireworks.”


         Science fiction is always a topic of interest to the artist, who enjoys creature features from his large library of mid-century monster movies. As a child of the 1950s and '60s "Atomic Age", sci-fi themes frequent his art. “There will be some monsters in the show,” says Lovelace, "To me it’s always been about xenophobia. Fear of the unknown, that’s what monsters represent. I didn’t want to know the everyday activities. I wanted to know about the other side. The unknown. Abstract expressionism practically frightened me! But I loved it!”


"Signs and Wonders 2012" opens August 4th during Jerome's popular ARTwalk from 5:00pm 'til 8:00pm, and runs through October 4th. The Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery is open from 10am-6pm daily, at 502 Main Street in the old Hotel Jerome building. For more information call (928)639-4276, or visit www.jeromecoop.com 

Rock Paper Fire -March 3rd through May 2nd, 2012

                                           

Rock, Paper, Fire

Sarah Harms and V. Norton

March 2- May 2nd, 2012

An exciting featured artist show entitled "Rock, Paper, Fire" opens March 3^rd and runs through May 2 at the Jerome Artists' Cooperative Gallery, 502 Main St in Jerome.

 The show features new works by gallery members Sarah Harms and V. Norton. Sarah will be unveiling a new line of jewelry, small sculptures and wall art, using steel, rocks, and wool. Norton will have new works in Ceramics and an exhibit of handmade books. The opening reception will be during Jerome’s Art Walk, Saturday March 3rd, from 5 to 8 pm with refreshments and a chance to meet the artists in person.

 According to Sedona artist V. Norton, “I like the idea of having new pieces of art for each of my shows. There will be wall pieces and vessels, and these ceramics will be in colors of the earth and fire, showing a different aspect from my high fire porcelain. The firing methods are not so different from those of the native peoples everywhere.”

 Also in this vein of bringing old techniques into present day are the artist’s handmade books, a tradition in calligraphy which started even before the printing press. Says Norton, "So the question is how to take a traditional book and make it non-traditional. My bound books each have a different aspect to them that the viewer can discover."

Sarah has created a body of work for the show using the title as a guideline, both literally and figuratively. “We came up with the title because of materials used in both of our work.  As my creative juices began to flow, a new line of jewelry was created that I am calling ‘Cairns’. Cairns have been used for centuries by many cultures to mark trails, graves, and other places of interest on the planet. I hope wearers of the jewelry can use it as a talisman to help guide them on their path, seek out a new path, or just look plain cool!”

Moving out of her comfort zone as a jeweler, Sarah will also be showing some wall pieces created from felted wool and steel. “Our title ‘Rock, Paper’ Fire’, kept evoking memories of various childhood games, so I have loosely used them as a theme for the wall pieces. I also happen to be a little obsessed with a couple word games at the moment, so the grid pattern of the steel hardware cloth I am using fits right in.  Come on up to the Coop and see what the images evoke for you.”

The Jerome Artists Cooperative Gallery is located at 502 Main, in the old Hotel Jerome, and open from 10am-6pm daily. Rock, Paper, Fire runs through May 2^nd.