Please join our friend Janet Crittenden in her upcoming art exhibit at Liberty Arts.
MYTHOS & METAL
Opening Reception July 11th, 5 – 7 PM.
Exhibition runs from July 11 through August 8.
Janet Crittenden’s paintings are inspired by her interpretation of literature, dreams and nature. Her “story-paintings” are dreamlike, with each work creating its own mood, atmosphere and characters.
Artist Statement: Janet Crittenden
“To imagine: to form a mental image of something not present.” (Webster dictionary)
After seeing the oil paintings of Remedios Varo and Lenora Carrington twenty years ago, I made a gradual transition from ceramic sculpture to oil painting, learning The Old Master Technique. Their Surrealistic art told ambiguous stories of fantastic imaginings, and I felt like a kindred spirit.
My next problem was, how to get from learning to paint realistic images to my imagination? I have done both for years, as learning the technique of oil painting is what informs my imaginings. Even though I am relying on realism to convey my invented ideas, I needed visual models of the things I imagined. So, I began a process of taking photos of models in costume, landscapes, etc., and gathering photos that seemed appropriate to my idea. Then using a central image, I formed a united photo collage on large paper around this matrix – building ideas as I went along with photos, drawings, tape and paint. Once the collage felt cohesive, I photographed it and then would paint from this image. Since this is not reality, I needed a foundation in how to create illusory forms in order to do this – thus the need to keep learning to paint better and better. In many cases as I work on a fantastic idea, that idea changes and I make new collages to change with the idea. It is an on-going intuitive process until I am finished.
Janet Crittenden, The Tapestry of Dreams, Oil 36 x 48
My mental fabrications began as a small child, when I would sit on the floor and my Great Aunts gave me hours of their precious time telling stories of the great tales of wonder from all over the world. No wonder I found regular school boring when this was awakened. One Aunt was a professional story-teller, so you might imagine how transportive this was.
Now my inspiration comes from literature, art history, and my own stories. Then I let the ideas sit until I form a clear mental image. Some ideas sit around in my head for years. In this way I see a resemblance to writers. And in my mind these imaginary visual realms are not a set image with one set meaning. They are like making dreams visual, and so their meaning is slippery and not quite totally focused. As such, it seems to me that the viewer also brings his own life stories to an image. As we each see uniquely and individually – we are creating a new meaning for each picture.
From my reading, I feel that how I paint is closest to the term Magical Realism used in literature. Of course, I am over-awed by these great writers such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez, but they are great inspiration for me. I try to push myself to evolve into a more cohesive and magical wholeness, and this is my goal, along with trying to impart this legacy of wonder to others as my Great Aunts did for me long ago.
Images and a video from Janet’s art opening.
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