I never had a grad show when I went to NSCAD.
My teacher didn't think I was ready, and I think she was right.
I was so focused on music, because luckily, part of the breakaway from having a debilitating case of stage fright for ten years was partially healed being part of an artistic and collaborative community that came with being a student at NSCAD.
But I rushed through to get my degree, taking extra courses throughout the week, while also working at a cafe, playing open mics at night, and taking classes all through the summers so that I could get my degree, get out of there, and get on that stage. Sometimes I wish I could go back and take textiles ;) shhhh
Painting became something I did in my spare time, which was a bit rare during the next chapter of my life with a busy touring schedule, and mostly used as a way to give gifts to the people I loved.
However, the pandemic morphed this into something else, in a very positive and unexpected way.
As a new mother of two babies, I began staying up late; painting in my kitchen until 1 am sometimes. I'm not sure how I got enough sleep those days, and obviously I didn't. But it was essential to my joy that I was a mother AND an artist and this new time at home gave me the sudden luxury to explore this part of my creative brain that had been sort of stuck in the back of a touring van forever. But I wouldn't trade any of those moments in either, because singing was always my first love. Long drives in vans and singing just go together, for me anyway.
But as far as paintings go, I told people I painted 'abstracted landscapes' which is not even a real term, I don't think, and I also buried the memory of ever doing portraits into the back of my mind.
I had done a few self portraits in art school, and my teacher whom I adored praised me in front of the class. He was a tough nut to crack and It was kind of a big deal to me that he'd made a point of making this special example of me. (Gerry Ferguson)
But in a string of bad luck and love those days, I ended up back at school one night after midnight to try and cure myself with art, and the results of that next self portrait after a rough night, were disappointing at best! When I saw the look in his eyes the next morning I never painted a portrait again, until almost 20 years later.
Which was recently.
When the atrocities in Palestine began to unfold before my eyes, I had the overcoming urge to paint the portrait of one journalist named Bisan Owda.
I was understanding the intense dehumanization of Palestinians for the first time and wanted to do my part in raising them up.
I painted four of the journalists and with the help of my team raised much needed awareness and over 32K for The Palestine Red Crescent Society through the auction of the original paintings and the sales of prints across the world.
This is what led me to painting the portraits of the collaborators on my most recent album
'Champagne Problems'; a Canadian Collaboration Project where each of the 12 songs were co written, and often performed, with a songwriter from across the country.
It exemplifies and showcases the beauty, art and culture we have here from coast to territory to coast like a quilt, and I feel, is a historical article that captures a moment in time where artists came together to find a silver lining when we were told to distance. We made something beautiful that celebrates and heightens what is so magnificent about the cultural diversity and artistry of Canada, that will stand the test of time.
Portraiture became an exciting and new passion project where I tried to capture the essence of a person, and hold them up to the highest standards, which for me I am calling 'something to believe in.' Or someone to believe in, if you like.
'Something to believe in' is a borrowed lyric from the song 'Judy', that I wrote with my dear friend and bandmate Kim Harris; and the first single from this album. It is the love story of her mother Judy and father Sam adopting her in Corner Brook, Newfoundland in the early 1980's, and a perfect example of allowing the gateways of creativity to open and to receive.
The abstracts in this show are like free flowing studies of how songs and art can come to us like messages from another realm. Something unexplainable, but a cousin to magic, or maybe a version of angels, definitely love, and the connective spirit that brightens us all.
I am so honored and excited to celebrate all of the people I got to paint and that is the thing that makes me feel like maybe there is a place for me in the real art world too.
That, and the dedication of such a strong and inspiring team that make 'The Prow Gallery', and absolutely my incredible team at Blue Grace Music who often push me to do big things and also keep saying yes to all the ideas and projects that I have in between. I am a lot and I know this. And a thousand percent as well, because of the love and support of such a caring and creative artistic life partner.
The feeling I get from painting is what I want to put out into the world for you.
And the hope for this is to raise the vibrational energy of the planet in one small way; knowing that all these small acts we make together can come together and create a more substantial possibility for goodness, understanding, love, and peace in the world that we share.
Finally, if you've gotten this far, let me tell you my secret about gold doilies.
I started using them because they were cheaper than gold foil, and I was embarrassed forever because of that. But as it turns out, I am much too impatient for gold foil after all, and I like the activity and urgency of a movement; like the rip of a paper, or the downward stroke of bright pink chalk pastel, or the thick swirl of ochre paint from a brush which is part of what makes my art unforgivably me.
I hear my mother's voice these days, calling me 'a domestic diva' with a light lilt in her voice. And I feel my ancestors around me, imagining them in the kitchen, and as caregivers, reminding me of my friend Jill Barber's thesis behind her latest work on her album 'Homemaker'. And because of all of this, the doilies, now gold and on display, bring me joy, and freedom and are probably here to stay.
Thank you for allowing me this privilege to create and share my art. It is an honor to be here and make things for you.
Love, Jenn
