janedaviesartgallery.com
Vertical Series
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Jane Davies’ work combines bold organic shape and line with layers of atmospheric transparency. The drawing seems to emerge from the layers of color as thoughts and their associated feelings rise from the subconscious mind. The images often seem to merge a stream of consciousness with a sense of recognition or realization through reflection. Color appears sometimes bold, other times subtle as a whisper. The drawing crashes in bold arcs through the images, as well as taps gently in contrasting rhythms of gentle glissando.
Written by Janis Kirstein
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Coastal Fragments
About Jane Davies
Rupert, VT – United States
Jane Davies is a full time artist working in paint, drawing media, collage, and occasionally encaustic. She offers workshops nationwide and online, helping people to find a personal and playful approach to art making. “I am most complimented when someone tells me that my work inspired them to try something new in their own art”.
Beginning as a potter in the early 1990s, Davies transitioned into freelance art in the early 2000’s, creating artwork for manufactured home décor and gift products. Fine art had always been a sideline for Davies, but in 2009 she began giving it her full attention, giving up the freelance work in favor of painting and teaching workshops.
“I realized that I did not really know who I was as an artist. My work had always been subject to the needs of outside demands – for sale, for a commercial product, or as instructional examples – and I wanted to know what happened if I just made art as a personal inquiry. I still want to know, and it is that ongoing quest that keeps me motivated”.
Jane Davies is the author of three books on collage and mixed media, one on ceramics, and has one DVD on painting and collage techniques.
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Black and White
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Grids
Education:
• 1988 – 1990: I studied Ceramics at the School for American Crafts at Rochester Institute of Technology, plus one year there as Artist in Residence, 1990 – 91. • BA in Philosophy at Bennington College, Bennington, Vermont, 1987.
Artist’s Statement
Formal elements are my foremost source of inspiration: color relationships, line, shapes, texture, pattern, and depth. It is after the fact that I connect my visual vocabulary to specific features of my experience.
I see in the Submerge series landscape, coastline, worn surfaces, rocks, tides – no doubt a reflection of my childhood spent in Nova Scotia.
The Washed Up series I’m trying to throw together disparate elements, as if they washed up on the beach in a random arrangement, and then see how I can relate them to one another formally.
In the Pattern Grids I see rhythm, counterpoint, perhaps a visual expression of a fascination with cycles and frequencies engendered by my background in music (think ukulele, starting at the age of five).
Like many artists, my process involves a balance between intuitive mark making, and careful deliberation. I try to stay present to this dialog with the painting, and discover possibilities, rather than force the painting to a preconceived conclusion. Each one is a surprise. I leave my paintings open to interpretation by the viewer.
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Big Fat Art
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