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I
grew up in the very backwoods of Maine. The house my parents built neighbored
on an expanse of rolling blueberry fields and was surrounded by 60 acres of
wooded land, complete with a cranberry bog. I spent hours each day, all year
round, playing outside, cross country skiing through leafless black trees,
sledding down our bumpy hill on snowy days, hiking the back paths kicking up
bright fall leaves, even digging canals in the thawing driveway mud in April.
The outdoors was my playground, and so I knew ever corner and nuance of our
land- the shimmery poplars on the way to the ridge, the dark whispering pines
at the top, the descent to the creek, the lightning tree with its shards of
wood plunged into the earth around it.
I tell you this because these images are
integral to my visual memory and therefore to the art I find myself making. Trees
in the sun, bare trees in the winter, the green of spring, the blue of the
sky, the sun filtering through forest cover- all this continues to inspire
me. Later, in high school, I moved to
Portland, Maine, where the ocean became part of my life. I had grown up
swimming in ponds, with their yellowish sandy light, but the ocean is
different. Friends and I would go to rocky points after hurricanes to watch
the waves thrash and bash against the rocks; we’ d go boating, sailing,
swimming in the ocean all summer. I loved (and love) the cool green blue
color, so deep and inviting that it made me thirsty just looking at it-
thirsty to drink the water, or dive in, to recreate it- or something. These
are the blues and greens I love to use in art. In 1996 I moved to Pachuca, Mexico, to
teach English. Suddenly, the colors went crazy all around me- pink houses on
hills, blue doors, yellow walls. The New England unspoken rules of color were
nowhere to be found. I loved too, the unexpected, the visual juxtapositions I
found, and still continue to find to this day. Mexico seems so full and busy.
There is so much to see, so I photograph the parades, people and ruins, I
draw the green landscapes. There is no doubt Mexico has enhanced and changed
the colors in my art. Although I have always loved color, here it is even
more liberated. Visually, Mexico is exciting-and it’s inspiring in many ways,
for it is here that I met my husband Fernando, who supports and encourages me
in all I do. Techniques
Monotype is a
one time only print. You apply inks directly onto a plexi-glass plate and
then run them through a printing press. What I love about monotype is the
element of surprise; I can never be exactly sure how a piece will turn out
until I peel the paper off the plate and in that exciting moment all the
colors are revealed in gorgeous layers and combinations. I love how I can
play with wiping color away and laying another on top creating layers of
textures and colors. By laying down a layer of blue, then wiping parts away
and adding a layer of yellow, the yellow seems to emerge from behind greens
and blues. I can use stencils to create shapes as well with inked paper cut
outs. Unusual things can happen: sometimes a red ink can repel purple ink,
creating a fill-in effect. In monotype the possibilities of color are endless
and exciting. That is why I never tire of it. Collagraphy is a
strange in its simplicity and effectiveness. You glue lots of interesting
textured items onto a cardboard sheet and cover with gesso, (or cover with
aluminum foil and roll through the press one time- the foil creates a metal
looking plate.) Ink it up and run it though the press- wonderful surprises
await. I find that collographs printed over or under a monotype, adds layers
and textures to my prints.. Collage
is a natural conclusion to reach with so many colorful pieces of paper
lying around. Discarded monotypes provide glorious colors and textures for
collage, where again I find layers and movement and light to come out. Photography too
is light and form and color. In Mexico there is so much to look at; so much
going on in every doorway, on every street, in every moment. The light at
high altitudes is often stark and crisp, or warm and lazy in the lowlands. I
am drawn to old (often decrepit) architecture- ruins and crumbling walls and
crooked church sculptures. I am also drawn to people in ceremonies, parades
in the dazzling bright sun. I love the expansive landscapes in shimmering
light and various stages of greenness or browns. I look for juxtaposition,
contradiction, unusual combinations. |
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Curricula Jessica
Lyris Krichels Intensive
Ceramics Course, Nashville Arts Center, Nashville, Tennessee USA Intensive
Course in Printmaking, Instituto Cultural Cabañas, Guadalajara, Mexico1997-98 Member
of Jose Bazan Sculpture and Drawing Workshop, Pachuca, Hgo. Mexico1996-97 Contemporary
Art Festival, American School Foundation of Guadalajara, 1999, 2000,
2001,2002 Exposicion, “Tres Visiones- Tres Artistas” Galeria Expressiones,
Guadalajara, 2000 “Salón del Pequeño Formato” Centro de
Arte Moderno, Guadalajara, 2000, 2001, 2002 “Salón de la Fotografia”
Centro de Arte Moderno, Guadalajara, 2002 “Fotografias
de Oaxaca”, Waynflete School,
Portland, Maine USA, 1995 Stoa Gallery: Art Work at
Stoa Gallery,
Guadalajara, Mexico, Mexicaltzingo
2137, (33) 36154429 |