I have added an Artist’s Statement to my Bio page. I will be exhibiting a few pieces of my work in the A+Art Committee member exhibit at Okaloosa Walton State College next spring. The committee functions under the umbrella of the Cultural Arts Alliance of Walton County (Florida), selecting artists and organizing shows in the lobby area of the South Walton OWSC business office about 4 or 5 times a year. This year was our first year, and we decided to avoid any appearance of self-promotion this first year. But several members of the committee are accomplished artists, so we decided to have a show of committee members’ works for a couple of months next year.
Following is my Artist’s Statement, at least for today, 11/14/11. No doubt it will evolve.
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Joan Vienot – Artist’s Statement The greatest pleasure for me as an artist is the capture of the present moment, a little piece of Now. The challenge is greatest when the subject is the human figure, where the length of a pose is limited by the live model’s ability to remain motionless for any duration. Very little time is available for retractions or corrections, so my marks on the paper have to be certain and authoritative. Every pose is a challenge of my mastery. Similarly, plein air painting requires intense focus and present moment awareness in order to execute a scene before the light changes radically. In both cases, the subject must be portrayed in fairly general terms, with only enough detail to lend unique identity and a bit of atmosphere. I rarely do anything more than minimal correcting, or perhaps heightening of contrast, when I get back to my studio, preferring to let my interpretation of the moment stand on its own. My approach might result in what some may call mistakes in proportion or perspective, but I think accuracy should be subordinate to my effort to convey the essence of the subject in a short amount of time. When time is so fleeting that I could never capture something in either dry or wet media, then I resort to my camera to produce a photograph, which of course records the quintessential moment in time. My favorite subject for drawing is the human figure. People’s lives and experiences create lines on their faces and sags on their bodies, and their posture bears witness to their youth or to their years. The nude figure in particular, with the façade of clothing removed, reveals the essence of a person’s physical existence and might even hint at her spirit. Most of my figure drawings are of females simply because most of the models I’ve had opportunity to draw are female. My figure drawings are very simply my personal expression of the beauty and complexity of the human form and my efforts toward mastery of that expression. |