Featured Artist for June - August 2001

Featured GiveAway by Jennifer E. Young Solo Mixed Media On Canvas 11" x 14" - 1999 Valued at $400

Deb Hart Cave Creek, Arizona

Jennifer Young

Jennifer Young was born in June of 1967 and grew up in Baytown, Texas. Having been involved in art since she was a child, she remembers in first grade coloring and drawing pictures almost incessantly. Even though her reading skills were less than exemplary until her second year of school, she harnessed a love for drawing at an early age and has nurtured it ever since. Her mother is also artistic, her grandmother being a stage and silent film actress. Other relatives near the field include a great aunt who was an artist and several musicians in her family. An artistic family background helped her develop her own passion for the arts.

Jennifer attended Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts and has taken classes independently. She's also learned a great deal on her own by just doing. She is a full time artist and her main drive is the intense desire to express herself and communicate thoughts and feelings where words fail her. Inspirations arrive from just about anything -- books, ideas, nature -- but mainly from just how mysterious life really is to her. Great ideas usually come to her in the morning while lying in bed just after awakening, as the earlier she gets started in the studio, the better.

Night Sea Journey, Oil on canvas, 48" x 60", 2000

Jennifer likes the idea that individual viewers bring their own life experience in interpreting her work. Although she's happy to "explain" her work, she'd rather know what the viewer sees in a given painting. To her that in itself opens up a whole new level of communication for both viewer and artist, which she finds a learning process. She hopes her work resonates with the viewer as something to relate to or elicits some kind of response. Jennifer knows that art isn't something that is necessary for basic survival, but she feels that it is truly relevant to the existential needs of humanity. Her goal is to make a contribution in some way.

Flora Oil on canvas 36" x 52", 2001

She'd like to continue to push boundaries and create fearlessly all the while earning a good income doing something that she loves. Jennifer has many interests that begin with books, language, music, nature, good food, good wine, good coffee, weather in the spring and fall seasons. She enjoys caring for her three cats, new shoes, visiting thrift stores, practicing yoga, going out with friends, her nieces and nephews, traveling, philosophy, history, spirituality, learning of different cultures. Independent films and beautiful cities spark her imagination.

Cleaning the bathroom, waiting in line, heavy traffic, urban sprawl, paperwork, big bureaucracies, narrow-mindedness, rushes to judgment and deceit are some of her dislikes. A pet peeve is short-sighted politicians favoring big business and money over preserving what precious natural preserves we still have on this earth.

Abundance Oil and Composition Leaf on Canvas 36" x 48", 2000

Deadlines are always a good incentive for her. Jennifer also enjoys looking at art and visiting galleries and museums that get her fired up. Feedback from viewers is a great boost as well as learning new techniques from workshops.

She works primarily with 2-D mediums with oils, acrylics, gouache, collage, canvas, panel, paper, and relief printmaking. Jennifer has won awards for her work in juried exhibitions: the Juror's Choice Award at SBAC in 1997, First Prize at Sarah D. November Gallery, and in 1993 at Anderson Gallery's annual.

Illuminated City: Tribe, Ego, Heart, & Beyond Oil and Composition Leaf on Canvas 43" X 47", 1998

Solo, the giveaway this month, is a smaller figurative work. It's a combination of acrylic, oil, and collage on panel support. "It's kind of a stream-of-consciousness piece showing the bust of a woman emitting small swirls out of her open mouth which indicate sound. She wears a chain around her neck with a sign reading "admit one" as a golden key remains below with a keyhole. A black bird occupies the lower left, and in front of him are the footprints he has yet to take. This is about "finding one's own voice and one's own destiny."

Two Sisters Mixed Media on Canvas 20 " x 24", 2000

ARTIST STATEMENT

As a painter, I use a variety of subject matter to express myself. By far the most extensive subjects are those of my figurative paintings. These works are my first love, as they allow me to explore a wide range of expressions, ideas, and themes. Many of my works have a strong narrative quality, but more often I find my paintings venturing more toward the symbolic. Sometimes they address introspection and even isolation, and other times they are more universal and archetypal. The vast majority of subjects in my figurative paintings are women, mainly because being a woman myself, this is my life experience. But the issues and symbolism in the works are not restricted to the female, so I like to think that the work is of relevance to either sex. I also regularly create floral still lifes, for here I can focus on the formal aspects of painting without the concern of getting caught up in "meaning". My florals easily lend themselves to consideration of form, color movement, and dynamic composition, and, while they are representational, they tend to take on a more abstract quality, as I try and create an interest in surface, color, line or form in every area of the painting. While my focus has largely been in the other two aforementioned genres, I have created a few landscapes as well. By far the most explored landscapes to date have been of Italy, and they are rich with the colors and earthy beauty of the many Italian vistas I have been fortunate to have seen over the years. ~ Jennifer Young