Artist of the Week 62
Kathy Jones
Kathy Jones is a figurative artist who responds to the marks she makes in an intuitive manner. Her paintings explore the intersection between the figure, the materiality and the impression of her subjects. Her work always attempts to discover something deeper and more fundamental to the human experience. "If a piece doesn't surprise me in some way," Kathy says, "you'll never see it."
Kathy credits her time abroad for informing much of her work today. Living in France and Germany played an important role in her development as artist and woman, but it was her two years in Egypt, in her early 20s, that transformed her thinking and influenced the lens through which she views the world.
"There was a sense of cultural adventure and cultural celebration." That influence remains in her work today. "The textiles and silver, the markets, Egyptian souqs had bags of spices and Turkish jewelry. It was dazzling to me."
Her work continues to be steeped in those vibrant colors. "Every painting is an unknown journey." Kathy carries that sense of adventure, those rich textures and tones, and that discovery of the unknown onto her canvases.
Kathy keeps a space at the Laguna Canyon Artists' Studios, which she's had since the early 2000s. Her space used to be a dance studio. It still has a giant mirror on one wall. Kathy uses the mirror as part of her process, looking ahead while painting and then, periodically, looking back at her work through the mirror to give herself a different perspective. "It's an interactive process."
Kathy says the surfaces of her paintings need to be as important as the content. Texture is everything. "I like to see the artist's hand in the work. My paintings are about silence, solitude, space, and shadows - about the moments between actions. I paint people waiting, or gazing, or pausing, or moving from one place to another."
If a piece is working well, Kathy says her audience will feel inspired to bring their own history and stories to the work, making it a shared experience.
When people ask Kathy which piece is her favorite, she tells them it's her next one. "The next one has infinite possibility. That gives me a sense of optimism."
Contact Lily Pad Gallery West for information on pricing and to view additional works by Kathy Jones.
(414)-509-5756
info@lilypadgallery.com
To learn more about Kathy, visit her Artist page:
