I think making self portraits is a good practice as an artist. It serves as a benchmark to gauge skill and changing concerns in technique and color. Rembrandt famously made 100 self portraits (that we know of), and it’s interesting to notice the changes in techniques and age in each one.
The last couple days I painted a self portrait, and I think it’s finished. It’s oil on wood and measures 12×12 inches.
In the next few weeks as classes wind down this semester, I’m reintroducing coaching for artists. This will be in a new format, and you’ll be able to easily book coaching calls here. If you know an artist who’s feeling creatively stuck or needs some art-related guidance, can you let them know?
It’s that time of year… the weather is getting warmer, the bike rides are getting faster, and the end of the school year is in sight! With the spring semester winding down soon, my schedule will open up for commissions again. This spring I will be available for 1-2 commissioned projects.
The surfers, skiers, and sprinter paintings below are three commissioned paintings I made for a friend a few years ago. I really enjoyed making these – not only because they all feature athletes, but also because I could play with the elements of paintings that I really dig: surprising colors, juicy paint, and big bold shapes.
Check out my commissions page to learn more about the process of making custom artwork and to see other commissioned paintings I’ve made in the past. And email me if this sounds interesting to you. Cheers!
A couple of weeks ago I gave a talk at The Art Gallery at Congdon Yards. We talked about my background, inspiration, processes, and techniques, and the group had some great questions. The gallery was kind enough to film the event and make a video, and you can watch the talk and Q&A below.
My artwork is on display there during my exhibition entitled A Place of Leaves and Earth from Jan. 25 – April 19.
Join me this Thursday at The Art Gallery at Congdon Yards for a one-hour discussion. We’ll be talking about inspiration, techniques, and processes for my exhibit, “A Place of Leaves and Earth,” currently on display at the gallery. The program is free and open to the public, and there will be coffee and doughnuts! Registration is required.
I recently made a series of 6 sculptures using encaustic. Encaustic paint is made by melting wax and damar crystals, and mixing them with pigments for color. Each painted layer then has to be fused to the layers underneath it by liquifying the surface with a propane torch.
The materials I used are: encaustic (wax, pigment, damar resin), cardboard, galvanized steel, and polyvinyl acetate (a fancy way of saying Elmer’s Glue or white glue).
I documented the process from ideation to completion, and you can scroll down to see it from start to finish.
The sculptures are on view and available from the Art Gallery at Congdon Yards in High Point, NC till April 19th.
My sketchbook a couple months ago: the sculpture shape ideas (right) and color combination ideas for sculptures (all over the place). There’s also a drawing for a painting (top left), planning for this exhibit (bottom left), and random ink marks
Drawing a shape on cardboard
Cutting out shapes using an X-acto blade
Cutting and shaping steel wire for the legs and base. The base pieces are also shown
Testing the steel legs and base for balance
Clamping and drying the sculptures. Here the body shape has been attached to steel legs, which has been sandwiched between 2 base plates.
Some of the sculptures after I filled in all the edges with Golden Light Modeling Paste. This way I have a nice smooth, not rough cardboard-y, edge. I sanded and shaped all the edges.
Priming the pieces using R&F Encaustic Gesso for a nice smooth absorbent surface. I sanded the surfaces before and after.
Four of the sculptures primed and ready to go
My encaustic hotplates with melted unmixed colors in the big pots and mixed colors in the lids. The big containers contain clear medium and white.
Six finished encaustic sculptures
In this video you can watch how I fuse the encaustic layer using a propane torch.
My exhibition “A Place of Leaves and Earth” is up at the Art Gallery at Congdon Yards in High Point, NC January 25 – April 19, 2024. Here’s a walk-through of the exhibit that features paintings, sculpture, video, sound, and installation. The work is available for purchase from the gallery.
About the work:
Making my work and moving my body outside have always been the ways that I process things. The work in this exhibit is deeply personal, generated by time I spend in nature alone and with family and friends. It is also born from the range of emotions I feel as I read the news and I make my way through the world as a human. My grief and anger and fear over our changing environment and socio-political upheaval are filtered through the quiet meditative space I find when I’m moving through nature and is sublimated into the artwork.
This grouping is comprised of paintings, video, sound, sculpture, and installation made in the last 5 years, a time that coincided with my son’s time in elementary school. Now that he is older and more independent, I have more uninterrupted time in the studio. I have space to meander, and to sit back and observe and to play. This body of work is a culmination of ideas that have percolated over the last two decades, and of giving myself the grace to learn new techniques and ways to engage the senses.
I hope you’ll experience this work through a poetic lens and allow yourself to be flooded with the sensations and memories this work evokes.
“Before we can save this world we are losing, we must first learn how to savor what remains. This is more than an ecological crisis or a political crisis — it is a spiritual one.” — Terry Tempest Williams
This Thursday February 1st at the North Carolina Museum of Art, Winston-Salem (SECCA), join me and fellow artists Tim Bowman, Vikki Vassar, and Mark Lamb as we talk about art collaborations and the dynamics of creativity within relationships.
The event is free and open to the public.
Fireside: Creative Couples
6:00-8:00 PM in the Hanes House Living Room
750 Marguerite Drive,
Winston-Salem, NC 27106
My new exhibit “A Place of Leaves and Earth” opens at The Art Gallery at Congdon Yards in High Point, NC on Thursday January 25th. Drop in anytime between 5:00-7:30PM – the event is free and open to the public.
The show features paintings, video, sound, and sculpture, and runs until April 19th. The artwork is available for purchase from the gallery.
Here’s a little bit about the work in the show:
Making my work and moving my body outside have always been the ways that I process things. The work in this exhibit is deeply personal, generated by time I spend in nature alone and with family and friends. It is also born from the range of emotions I feel as I read the news and I make my way through the world as a human. My grief and anger and fear over our changing environment and socio-political upheaval are filtered through the quiet meditative space I find when I’m moving through nature and is sublimated into the artwork.
This grouping is comprised of paintings, video, sound, sculpture, and installation made in the last 5 years, a time that coincided with my son’s time in elementary school. Now that he is older and more independent, I have more uninterrupted time in the studio. I have space to meander, and to sit back and observe and to play. This body of work is a culmination of ideas that have percolated over the last two decades, and of giving myself the grace to learn new techniques and ways to engage the senses.
I hope you’ll experience this work through a poetic lens and allow yourself to be flooded with the sensations and memories this work evokes.
“Before we can save this world we are losing, we must first learn how to savor what remains. This is more than an ecological crisis or a political crisis — it is a spiritual one.” — Terry Tempest Williams
The address of the gallery is 400 W English Dr, Suite 151, High Point, NC 27262.
Cold Water, oil on canvas, 30×40 inches, one of the paintings in the exhibitle petit bruit de l’œuf dur, encaustic (wax, pigment, damar resin), cardboard, galvanized steel, polyvinyl acetate, 10.5 x 6 x 6.5 in, one of the encaustic sculptures in the exhibit
“A Place of Leaves and Earth” at The Art Gallery at Congdon Yards, High Point, NC January 25-April 19, 2024
Meanwhile in the garden, 2022, oil on canvas, 30×40 inches
(January 4, 2024, High Point, NC) Award-winning artist Jessica Singerman announces her exhibition of works entitled A Place of Leaves and Earth opening at The Art Gallery at Congdon Yards on January 25 and continuing through April 19, 2024. The opening reception is free and open to the public on Thursday January 25th, 5:00 – 7:30 PM.
Says Singerman, “Making my work and moving my body outside have always been the ways that I process things. The work in this exhibit is deeply personal, generated by time I spend in nature alone and with family and friends. It is also born from the range of emotions I feel as I read the news and I make my way through the world as a human. My grief and anger and fear over our changing environment and socio-political upheaval are filtered through the quiet meditative space I find when I’m moving through nature and is sublimated into the artwork.
This exhibit is comprised of paintings, video, sound, sculpture, and installation made in the last 5 years, a culmination of ideas that have percolated over the last two decades, and of giving myself the grace to learn new techniques and ways to engage the senses.
I hope you’ll experience this work through a poetic lens and allow yourself to be flooded with the sensations and memories this work evokes.”
Emily Gerhold, Director of the Sechrest Gallery of Art and Assistant Professor of Art History at High Point University, writes “Singerman’s work first engages they eye with its color and vibrancy, and one cannot help but feel excited as they are welcomed into the space suggested by her gestural, energetic brushwork. But, balanced with the dynamic elements of her work are passages that inspire deep feelings of tranquility… [This exhibit] will invite audiences to meditate on the myriad embodied responses, from the ecstatic to the profound, provoked by encounters with the beauty and power of the natural world.”
The artwork in the exhibition can be purchased at the gallery.
About the artist: Jessica Singerman earned her BA with Highest Honors in 2002 from the College of William & Mary, Virginia, and her Masters of Fine Arts in 2004 from the University of Delaware while on a fellowship. Her award-winning paintings and drawings are exhibited and collected internationally. Singerman lives and works in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
THE ART GALLERY AT CONGDON YARDS, including A place of leaves and earth, by Jessica Singerman, January 25 – April 19. 400 W English Dr, Suite 151, High Point, NC 27262, www.tagart.org 336-887-2137.
Happy New Year! I read somewhere that it’s a good practice to pause and reflect on the previous year, so I’ll do that here and celebrate some highlights with you. Here we go in no particular order:
I had the chance to be interviewed on two podcasts: Red House with musician and music producer Tyler Nail and Free Pizza with photographer Daniel White.
My work was juried into ArtFields in Lake City, SC. Experiencing the closing festivities there was a highlight for me and my family.
One of my paintings travelled to Kyrgyz Republic as part of the US Department of State’s Art in Embassies program.
And the two I am most proud of: I won the Pilot Mountain Trail Marathon women’s division, and I worked from March to December on building up to 10 consecutive pull-ups!
Now I’m focusing on getting work ready for my upcoming exhibit in High Point, NC. My show opens at the Art Gallery at Congdon Yards on Thursday January 25th, 5-7:30pm. I’m showing paintings, video, sound and sculpture. Scroll down for a peek at what I’m up to in the studio.
Using a propane torch to fuse encaustic paint on one of my sculptures.Compressing as much fabric as I can into one of many bundles…
