connected.
October 5th marked the opening of my joint exhibition entitled, "connected."
Thank you so much to all of you who showed up for the opening reception. It was such a fun night and an incredible honor to have 250+ people attend.
Now that I've had a moment to sit back and reflect, I am truly on Cloud 9...so grateful!
This joint exhibition is on display at The Capital Gallery in Bismarck, North Dakota now through January 8th, 2020 and features a collaborative body of work with Kent Burkhardsmeier.
Kent and I are from two different generations and have two very different styles of work, but we established a strong connection based on our passion for art and the power it has to help us all view the world from a new lens.
The work we filled the gallery with took well over a year to curate. (Kent offers his behind-the-scenes experience of creating the show here and you'll find my behind-the-scenes here.)
This new, collaborative body of work represents all the powerful shifts in perspective, learning, and growth that both Kent and I have experienced as a result of our collaboration and connection.
It represents what is possible when we choose to see life through the lens of connected, period. In other words, what’s possible when we decide that, no matter what, there is always a point of connection.
You'll find our show's manifesto below...
BREATHE.
UNDERNEATH THE LAYERS,
THERE’S A POINT OF CONNECTION
LOOK.
BEHIND ALL THE “MASKS,”
THERE’S A POINT OF CONNECTION
HEAR.
PAST EVERY DEFENSE,
THERE’S A POINT OF CONNECTION
LEARN.
DESPITE THE DENIAL,
THERE’S A POINT OF CONNECTION
WELCOME.
AMID DIVERSITY,
THERE’S A POINT OF CONNECTION
REACH OUT.
THROUGH KINDNESS AND HOPE,
THERE’S A POINT OF CONNECTION
THERE’S A POINT OF CONNECTION.
THERE IS A POINT OF CONNECTION.
THERE IS ALWAYS A POINT OF CONNECTION.
Take Kent’s photograph below, for example...
You could say there’s a break in the chain. You could choose to view it through the lens of disconnected. But when you put your “connected, period” lens on, you’ll see two children reaching for one another and you’ll begin to feel the kinetic energy connecting them.
That is what my brushstrokes represent in this piece...
They help bring your attention to the choice you get to make, all day every day…
Which lens am I going to choose to see this person, this situation through?
Disconnected or connected?
One of the reasons art is so powerful is because it meets you right where you’re at…
No judgments, no preconceived notions. It doesn’t ask you why you aren’t further along. It doesn’t care what age you are, what political group you affiliate with, if you’re married or single. Your status, your background, and your bank account are completely irrelevant in the presence of art.
All art cares about is who you are at your essence…when you can’t check any boxes to define yourself. And it also cares about who you are becoming.
When you allow yourself to surrender to it, it will elicit exactly the right questions for you to consider in order to grow in powerful ways.
I think this is why I’m often called to paint large...
Because I love the idea of us all getting engulfed by art...getting lost in its invitation to go beyond...beyond the limiting beliefs and definitions each one of us has about ourselves and about each other.
To date, the piece you see below is the largest I’ve ever created!
I got the canvases about a year ago when I was in a different place and was a different person. The canvases sat blank for over 4 months because I was scared. When I finally cultivated enough faith and courage to make my initial marks, I couldn’t touch them again for a long time after that. I think I was trying to make time go still.
You see, to me, each stroke captures a moment in time.
To some, my work may look chaotic, but I am not just randomly placing lines on a canvas.
Yes, there are times my strokes transcend standard logic and it feels as though I’m being guided by a mystical muse, but I can assure you none of my work is by chance.
My paintings are my prayers that go out into the world. And what the piece above, in particular, represents is the journey of a prayer. The big prayers we all hold in our hearts...for ourselves, our communities and humanity at large...the big prayers require a journey.
Perceived missteps and failures are inevitable when going beyond what has been before. Which is why the prayer must be on repeat. (The piece's title: Prayer on Repeat.)
I believe there’s not a more beautiful prayer to be on repeat than the prayer of "connected, period."
Make it your mantra, your commitment, your intention.
At the opening reception, guests were invited to leave their mark on the wall by writing, “connected.” if they were willing to discover more points of connection.
I invite you to let the unlikely marriage of literal + abstract that this show so clearly embodies, remind you of the connections that can be found just a layer or two beyond the obvious.
In the past, I have mostly done my work solo...
I am truly so grateful for this collaboration with Kent. I learned so much from him and through the process of working together. Kent is an incredible artist...definitely someone you want to keep on your radar!
It takes a very confident artist to be like,
“Yeah, Jessica, go ahead paint on my photos!”
Some of our collaborative pieces took that form...I painted on Kent's photos. I painted what I felt when I sat with his work. Most of the time Kent felt inspired to give me full reign...no direction from him or "rules" I had to follow.
However, some pieces he would feel inspired to challenge me...
For example, when it came to the crow piece pictured below, Kent said, "What if we designate the top third as 'paint zone', the middle third and 'splash zone' and the bottom third as 'no-paint zone?'" (A splash zone! Kent knows me well!)
Most people who saw this photo before I painted on it encouraged me not to touch it. "It's already perfect! You should leave this one as is!" But Kent said, "Go for it!"
Other collaborative pieces took a different form...
We printed Kent's photos on glass and then put my canvases or works on paper behind them. I love the complex subtly of these pieces...how Kent's work gives the piece context and casts shadows on my work enriching it and how my work sets a feeling tone.
Together we created something with this exhibition that neither of us could have done alone and I'm very proud of that!
Cheers,
