Nature provides an artist grand opportunities to connect with living art forms.  I am compelled to capture, preserve, and fuse those images into wax.  I bond with my surroundings on a personal level.  Colors, textures, and shapes allow me to communicate with, and perhaps even speak to another’s memory of a familiar place or experience.

Hiking the scenic trails of the Ozarks inspired this collection. It is a gift that we are surrounded by this spectacular display of nature. From sweeping vistas, cascading waterfalls, verdant valleys, to majestic rock formations, the Ozarks have the power to connect with your soul when you become attuned to its presence.

My focus has been on the cosmos not only because the imagery is new, stunning, or an enjoyable challenge but because of the reflections it evokes. For this series, I used images from the Hubble telescope; the more I see and study, the more in awe I am of the vastness and mystery of the Universe. It is difficult to grasp all that is out there, especially when there is so much strife amongst ourselves on this tiny rock. I know everyone sees the world through a different lens, but aren’t we all really the same?

This grouping of my personal artwork contains pieces from 2003 to 2019. The larger pieces, particularly the paintings on canvas, were created in Springfield. The works on a paper were completed in my studio in New Jersey. As eclectic as the subject matter may seem, there remains a consistency in the color harmonies and intimacy in execution as I get lost in the musculature of the animals and the illusions of space on a two dimensional surface. The unicorns and bulls have been coming out of me over the last year or so, and to me they are relevant to the contemporary conversations happening on social media and in the mainstream; I’m not trying to make commentary art—more like documentary art that reflects the lighter side of society.

My work reveals a passionate exploration of primitive cultures and the interpretive documentation of my artistic journey. Organic forms, colors, and textures define my style and ground my expression. This body of work is called Primal Fusion. It portrays and ancient art form presented in a modern medium; pigment and carving translated in glass powder and frit. The element of fire intrigues and seduces me throughout this exploration in fused glass.

Jane also currently has a handful of limited edition prints on archival paper available now at Obelisk Home.

This show is about the relationship between mother and daughter, the language they share and the ways they speak to their experience through large scale abstract painting. Much like the relationship between mother and daughter, the creative process does not stem from calculations or formulas but by reaching instinctive levels of reaction and response. Informed by their close bond, the painters’ works record a dialog between the two—taking cues from one another, exploring and negotiating their personal journeys.

Both artists draw from organic and figurative forms.
Donohue’s work includes figures and loosely interpreted coastal and cityscapes, along with classical, harmonic abstract expressionism.
Lewis-Smith, whose abstract expressionist perspective both predates and colors her experience of motherhood, ventures here into more movement-oriented themes, like her momentum series and windows and doors.

Although creating is not always magical, there is a point of quickening in the process that gives life to a piece. Being sensitive to these moments is magical. This magic is exemplified in the relationship between mother and daughter as they nurture and encourage their distinct journeys, separately and together.

Nothing influences me more than the beauty and mystery of the natural world. I am fortunate to live in the country, surrounded by a spring fed lake and two ponds. These waters have abundantly provided me with inspiration both visually and metaphorically.
The ever-changing reflection of the sky, an ephemeral slant of light, an unexpected color,
the movements and ripples from the wind. What is on the surface, and just like our subconscious, what lies underneath?
I am also drawn to the disorientation of the landscape as it is mirrored in the water, like
an entrance to a dreamy parallel world. This body of work is an homage to the sublime. The awe and wonderment of that moment in nature that provides a peaceful and sacramental calm. That moment when we feel included in that wonderment.
If I could evoke even just a spark of that in my paintings, it would bring me great joy.

Over the past year or so, my creativity has been put to the test. After dealing with a large amount of adversarial energy, my focus recently has been on happiness; I wanted to paint happiness. To do this, I needed to unplug and plug myself back into life. A restarting if you will. So, I have redirected my thoughts to “connectivity” in personifying these paintings. I’ve intended to create what I refer to as community. Lines may vary, widths may vary, but together they create a harmonious unity. And this I where I have found happiness.

My passion for painting is rooted in color. In each of these works, color is being analyzed. Studied. Creating a madness within. I am interested in color in regards to light; how certain colors can be placed next to each other to create an illusion of illumination. I am interested in how lines of color can create form and mix optically. How colors can create composition and the effect of refracted light and reflective color. These works embody what I love about painting.

Growing up I always went for the woods. There is something about being away from the city and cars that helps quiet my mind and allows me to delve deeply into my inner world.
Painting has been the means by which I reveal how I think and understand life. My style has naturally developed over a lifetime.
I paint familiar landscapes but the work is not so much a representation of Nature as an illustration for the story I tell.
I look to Nature for truth.
As an artist I strive to create a thought-provoking physical object that records the musings of my individual mind.
So, I set the scene, design the set, add the characters and call, “action”. You might think of the painting as a visual poem or a page from a story.
The mystery always remains.

Painting is a push and pull of visual weight that seems to give the painting a life without exact representation. It starts with color, and moves with a mark or gesture to begin the story.
Painting has always been the language I find closest to my own internal dialogue.
Most of my paintings are about relationships or rhythms. I like the open space where the viewer can add their interpretation to the landscape or setting. I do not begin to have the answers. I am seeking to give the viewer a choice, to put their story into the picture.
The abstractions are again a push and pull of the gesture. How does one color play off its compliment? The exhibition is a balance of abstracts with elements of figures. The series is composed of mostly large canvases with smaller more moderately priced work.

An erratic collection of memories and dreams. Similar experiences with different interpretations. When you drive down a rural road, do you see the same things I see? I would imagine that you encounter the same things but process them in your own unique way. Just like the stories we’re told through generations; same content, different take away. This collection reveals the beauty of interpretation. What feels familiar can be beautifully individual.

"These paintings are from the past eight years. A period when I would drive my children to grade school. The early morning drive was filled with constant questions and chatter about the day to day life of my young children attending school. What a joy.

The drive home was a stark contrast. Driving east of Springfield, it was silent in the car, the absence of giggles and singing and questions. However the sunrises were
spectacular. A quiet joy, inspiring. I’d rush into the house and down to my studio to capture the lingering impression of the colors that stretched across the most brilliant and massive of nature’s canvases. An ever changing brilliance. Extraordinary, so filled with color or heavily moody, dark and brooding with only a hint of sunlight.

These are my attempts to hold in oil the hope and promise of each new day, that soft spoken sunlight."
-J.D. Hull

Surrendering to the time cycle our sun provides can be a gratifying yet cruel human experience. There is importance in understanding our moments in the sun, the light shown upon our form is a gift rather than a routine-managed, laborious human task merely clocking the significance of our existence. Reflecting on the shadows our own shape casts on the earth or walls that surround us is an introspective exercise that can lead our actions to a sharper aesthetic contour of the image we hope to portray as time openly tracks our actions. Intuitively looking to nature for solace, I find beauty in the instinctual movements of animals, insects, and the growth of flora. Capturing the essence of shape, line, and light through the oldest and most ancient of art mediums, encaustic painting and the cyanotype photographic process, I am giving homage to the purest of living organisms that inhabit my world. Both artistic processes are spontaneous and rely on light and heat for materialize survival. Feeling a connection to the spirit of animals or the growth of a seed planted reminds me that tracking time while observing all living shadows and shapes, provides a feeling of gratitude and connection to the nature of being human.

“Jane Parker’s paintings and drawings richly avoid the sin of description while evoking a plethora of riches. They lead to a specificity of place and object only possible in the ambiance of the imagination—a place somewhere between music and a walk in the woods. Her work is to be entered rather than seen—experienced rather than admired. She consistently eschews artifice in favor of a reality that is less provable than palpable.” —Malki Sadeq, 2013

Marveling at my finds during walks in the woods,
I started collecting specimens to study with the intention
of making them the subject of this show.

It was a good time to work close to home, quietly, innocently and looking
to the earth and nature for peace of mind.

The small paintings are studies
so I might understand and practice painting the subject and form.

They are otherworldly and at the same time human.

"The inspiration I draw from nature comes from living in the Ozarks most of my life. Through my work, I engage in an ongoing dialogue with nature, sometimes even hiding text in the landscapes I depict. My view is at once romantic and melancholic as I consider nature’s uncertain future. Surreal elements emerge as I combine representation with the imaginary; flowers seem to dance, birds seek love, trees ask us to look. My paintings deepen my relationship with landscape—and the more my reverence grows, the more sacred that connection becomes." - Lil Olive