Objectified: AIB MFA Alumni Exhibition in Cambridge, MA

One of my paintings will be in the upcoming AIB MFA Alumni exhibition, Objectified, in Cambridge, MA.

The exhibit runs from January 4, 2013 to January 12, 2013. Gallery hours are 9:00 am to 5:00 pm.

Opening reception
January 4, 2013
6:00-9:00 pm
Lesley University/Art Institute of Boston
Washburn Hall Auditorium
10 Phillips Place
Cambridge, MA

The show catalog can be viewed on Blurb.com.

The theme for this year’s Biennial—“Objectified"—challenges the AIB artists to explore the dynamic range of power inherent in objectifying a subject or conversely, by focusing intently and decisively on a single object. More than 300 people visited the first MFA Alumni exhibition opening, and the University is expecting this event to be just as spectacularly attended.

The AIB MFA Alumni have orchestrated this group exhibition in cooperation with Lesley University as a celebration of the diversity and strength of the creative bonds forged in AIB’s intensive low-residency MFA program. This exhibition is also dedicated toward fostering deeper ties between AIB and the main Lesley University campus as AIB prepares to transition to its new location in Porter Square, Cambridge, MA.

To follow the progress of the show, please visit the exhibition’s Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/AibMfaAlumniExhibition

Nova

Nova, oil on panel, 12"x12"

Studio Visit with Contemporary Art Society of New Mexico

Blue Wave (WIP 2012), 12"x12", oil on panel

Sunday, Dec. 2, CAS New Mexico will be visiting my studio at Harwood Art Center.

After the Harwood, CAS members will visit the studio of Lester Berman.

About CAS NM
The Contemporary Art Society of New Mexico was founded in 1988 as a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting New Mexico's contemporary visual arts community. Their goals are to increase interest, understanding and involvement in contemporary art by encouraging individual collecting, by sponsoring educational activities and by supporting New Mexico's artists and art institutions.

Members regularly attend events, visit artist studios, and participate in art-related trips.  Recent events included a guided tour of the SITE Santa Fe Exhibition More Real? Art in the Age
of Truthiness and a road trip to visit the Anderson Museum of Contemporary Art in Roswell and Roswell Artists-in-Residence Studios.

For more information on CAS NM and membership opportunities, visit www.casofnm.org.

Harwood's 6th Annual 12x12 Fundraiser

This year I am participating in Harwood's 6th annual 12x12 benefit and auction.

Join us Friday, December 7th from 6-8 pm for an evening of art, entertainment, food, and fundraising.

When: Friday, Dec. 7th, 6-8 pm

Where: The Harwood Art Center
             1114 7th Street, Albuquerque, NM

Over 100 artists have transformed blank 12x12 and 24x24 wood panels into stunning original artwork to raise money for The Harwood.

Each 12x12 is available for $144, and the twelve 20x20 pieces are available via an online auction at www.biddingforfood.com/Harwood.

All money raised during the event is used to fund Harwood's community outreach programs. There is a suggested (but not required) donation of $5 to $20 at the door.

See you Friday!

Studio work 11/9/12

Untitled, oil on panel, 12"x12"

New painting for Harwood 12x12 Exhibition

Jill Christian, Untitled, 2012, oil on panel, 12"x12"

I recently completed this painting for the Harwood Art Center annual 12x12 fundraiser and exhibition.

This event is a wonderful opportunity to view and purchase paintings from a variety of New Mexico artists.

Here are the dates:


December 5th, 2012    5:30-7:30 pm
Exclusive 12x12 Member Preview: A great chance to get an advance view of the art, and meet the artists since all participating 12x12 artists are invited to the Member Preview.

December 7th, 2012   6:00-8:00 pm
6th Annual 12x12 Fundraiser & Auction. Bring one, bring all!

For more information, visit the Harwood website.

Escuela del Sol Montessori & Harwood Art Center
1114 Seventh Street NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102  |  505-242-6367 x120
http://harwoodartcenter.org

Una Vida Art Project Reception, Nov. 2, 2012

Jill Christian, Untitled, acrylic on paper, 30"x22"

Friday, November 2nd is the opening reception for the Una Vida Art Project at a place that is very special to me: Factory on 5th.

Before moving my studio to The Harwood, I had a studio at Factory on 5th. At my studio there, in the bitter cold of January of 2011, I began the current body of work that made up both my MFA thesis exhibit, and is part the work you’ll see at the show this Friday.
So, please join me Friday night, November 2nd from 5:30 to 9:00 pm for the opening reception of Una Vida Art Project at 5G Gallery at the Factory on 5th Art Space.

This group exhibition features a diverse group of seventeen Albuquerque artists (including yours truly) working in oil, pastel, acrylic, watercolor, metal sculpture, assemblage, and mixed media.

Una Vida Art Project
Dates: November 2 – November 24, 2012
Opening Reception: Friday, Nov. 2, 2012, 5:30-9:00 pm

For gallery access from November 3-24, call David at
505.977.9643. (He is there most days, but it's best to call before you arrive).

Factory on 5th
1715 5th Street NW in downtown Albuquerque.
http://www.factoryon5.com/


If you have never been to Factory on 5th, The Kosmos Coffee House hosts “Chatter” Performances on Sundays at 10:30 am.  Incredibly intimate, exhilarating music, and totally worth the trip!  The gallery will be open during performances.

Visit Sunday Chatter: http://www.chatterchamber.org/sunday/

Studio work, 10/13/12

"QR-2", oil on panel, 8"x8" (10/2012)

Small paintings from Rise|Fall exhibit

Untitled, oil on panel, 20"x20"

Untitled, oil on panel, 20"x20"

Untitled, oil on panel, 12"x12"

Untitled, oil on panel, 12"x12"

Untitled, oil on panel, 12"x12"

Untitled, oil on panel, 8"x8"

Untitled, oil on panel, 8"x8"

Untitled, oil on panel, 8"x8"

Gorky's Granddaughter: Laurel Sparks, July 2012

My wonderful MFA advisor, Laurel Sparks, was recently interviewed by Gorky's Granddaughter.  Showing her recent work in the studio, Laurel gives an honest, raw description of how she develops her ideas, changes things up, and "throws out her Rosetta stone".  Laurel has a wonderful appreciation of both systems (she talks about her use of Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies), and an intimate, personal, process-oriented sense of touch. 

Here's the link:
Gorky's Granddaughter: Laurel Sparks, July 2012

When I first looked at Laurel's new work online,  I sensed a shift in her place, having moved to New York in the last year or so.  And so I attributed her changes to a change of place. But, editorializing a bit, I love her discussion of discovering a personality in a painting.  She seems to set up the conditions of personality, and then, as in real life, you discover the unknowable aspects of personality -- hence obliteration of the original conditions.

One favorite part of the video for me is minutes 15:56-16:06, which displays a glittering, sparkling space (is it the night sky, or sparkling spandex?) surrounded by pastel, geometric segments and punctuations of built up visual moments.

Alchemy.

New work - June 21

Untitled, 12"x12"

Untitled, acrylic on board, 12"x12"

Rise / Set exhibition July 6-July 26, 2012

Nocturne, oil on canvas, 52"x52"

Rise / Set : Paintings by Jill Christian

Inspired by nuanced light and color in the moments surrounding dawn and dusk, the paintings in this exhibition present fields of brushstrokes that completely fill the canvas with subtly shifting colors.  Working within the structure of repetition and reduction, these process-driven, meditative paintings create rhythmic patterns that invite quiet contemplation of their surfaces.

Opening Reception:

Friday, July 6, 6:00 - 8:00 pm

(in conjunction with ArtsCrawl's First Fridays)

Exhibit Dates:

July 6, 2012 - July 26, 2012

The Harwood Art Center

1114 7th Street NW, Albuquerque, NM 87102 (505) 242-6367

www.harwoodartcenter.org

Exhibit may be viewed during Harwood Art Center gallery hours and by appointment by calling (505) 379-9836.

Gallery hours are Monday - Friday, 10 AM to 4PM.

Studio Work, June 1, 2012

This month I am working on a 52"x52" for an upcoming show at Harwood Art Center. This will be one of two large pieces that will hang on opposite sides of the gallery. The summer skies have been particularly colorful at dawn and sunset due to recent wildfires in New Mexico. The colors are seeping into my work -- heavy blues and vibrant oranges.

Untitled (detail), 2012,  oil on canvas, 52"x52"

Untitled, 2012,  oil on canvas, 52"x52"

Studio Work 5/26

Today dropped of work for an upcoming show at the Outpost Performance Center.

One of the paintings in this show is the painting I worked on for most of the month of May:

Untitled, 43"x43", oil on panel

In my last post about this painting, I said that it was inspired by a painting by Childe Hassam.  It is, but in the weird way of painting, I didn't know that when I began.  I began the painting with the idea of doing a painting with colors that would suggest a time of day.  A short time after I began the painting, I was having some troubles with color mixing, and picked up a painting book by Julia Aristides: Classical Painting Atelier.  On a page covering Impressionism, there in a painting by Childe Hassam were the colors I was using.  I wasn't consciously exploring Impressionism.  However, after thinking about it more, my last elective seminar in the MFA program was on the relationship between painting and photography with a photographer, Liz Deschenes.  One topic we discussed was the interaction between painting and photography as there was as a shift towards direct observation of the landscape.  One artist we talked about was John Constable, who painted a whole series of sky paintings, detailing the exact conditions in which the painting was created.  There were both photographers and painters (Claude Monet is a good example) who would capture/depict images of the same subject under different conditions -- the primary variable being light.  I found this fascinating, and considered a series of paintings based on the light and colors of the sky during different times of day.  I quickly discovered this idea has been hashed over many times.  I am not yet sure whether that matters.  But I find the history of this idea to be worth looking into.

Studio work - May 16

I decided to bring in more color with a whimsical painting inspired by looking at a painting by Childe Hassam.

April 22

Reviewing/Recharging/Planning

Just two months have passed since MFA graduation.  I have been in a strange space where I feel like an incredible amount of time has passed, and I haven't been doing enough work.  I have spent this time adjusting to new rhythms and routines, spending time with family, reading for pleasure...

I've been reviewing the paintings I've done over the past 12 months; thinking about what I want to do next (and knowing that will need to emerge through just working).

Thinking about restraint and slowing down, by which I mean simply working and letting everything else fall into place.

Other than preparing panels, I've completed just a single small painting.

Untitled, 12"x12", oil on board

Studio work 2/12/12

516 ARTS New Mexico Showcase opens this weekend, Sat. Feb. 4, 2012

Jill Christian, Tranquil Sky, 2011

This weekend, stop by the opening of the New Mexico Showcase exhibition at 516 ARTS!

One of my paintings will be in the show along with work by 80 New Mexico Artists.

Opening Reception: Saturday, February 4, 6-8pm
Featuring live, old-school country/rock-n-roll with The Joneses

Feb 4 - Apr 28, 2012
516 ARTS Anniversary Juried Exhibition

For more information, visit the 516 ARTS website.

516 ARTS
a nonprofit artspace in downtown Albuquerque
516 Central Ave SW
Albuquerque, NM 87102
t. 505-242-1445
Open Tue-Sat, 12-5pm

516 ARTS is located on Central Avenue between 5th & 6th Streets

516 ARTS announces New Mexico Showcase, a juried exhibition of New Mexico artists in celebration of our fifth anniversary. We are pleased to welcome guest juror Peter Frank, an acclaimed curator and art critic based in Los Angeles. Mr Frank is currently Associate Editor of Fabrik magazine and art critic for The Huffington Post. The exhibition features 80 emerging and established artists (of the 1,018 pieces submitted by 279 artists, Mr. Frank selected 73 artists and made seven special invitations to artists he wanted to honor). 516 ARTS opened five years ago with an invitational exhibition of New Mexico artists. This time we used the juried format to cast a wider net and open up the opportunity to artists we might not have known about otherwise. Peter Frank has selected a record number of artists ever to be shown at 516 ARTS in a single exhibition, highlighting the abundance of talent in New Mexico. The selected artists come from over 30 cities and towns across the state. Mr. Frank observed, "It was a delight, not a chore, to sift through the submissions, never knowing what was coming next, but reasonably sure it wouldn't be the same old same old. The hard part was winnowing the submissions down to a selection that could fit into 516's space; as capatious as it is, New Mexico's worthy art could fill it many times over."