Tag: winston salem artist

Happy New Year and Studio Goings On

Happy New Year! I just got back from a walk with my kitten Luna in a cat backpack. Yes, I am now that person who walks their cat in the neighborhood.

I’ve been on winter break and I’ve got a few days ’til the start of spring semester in the School of Film at UNCSA. It’s been nice to have the time and mental bandwidth to retool the classes I’m teaching and to work in the studio, where I’ve got several projects going on.

As we speak, I’m soaking River Birch bark (foraged with a friend) to extract some color and dye the last few hankies I kept aside. You may notice an open container of gesso, a sort of acrylic primer to prepare a birch wood panel for a painting. To get the surface ready to paint on, I applied four thin coats of gesso, sanding in between each one to make a bright white, opaque, smooth surface to work on. I’m looking forward to making this painting. It was commissioned at the end of the year by North Carolina Museum of Art (NCMA) Winston-Salem, specifically for the Hanes House.

In the last image, you’ll see a screenshot of an in-progress edit of a video piece I’m working on for my upcoming show in the spring. Some of my students were kind enough to help me out for this project and let me shoot their hands while they made an ink drawing of a landscape in Todd, a small community outside of Boone, NC, that saw a lot of damage during Hurricane Helene.

The previous two images are of ink drawing experiments I’m doing to figure out a series of works hopefully for the spring show. In the last few years I’ve made some drawings and paintings of plastic bags and crumpled up paper, but nothing I really dug into. Now I’m making drawings of plastic bags again, this time imagining a large group of them hanging together in a series as sort of imaginary topographies. We’ll see where it goes.

Back to the Land of the Living

I was sick last week: a sinus infection and then a reaction to the antibiotic prescribed for it, and then a new antibiotic… and boy did all that kick my ass. Having no choice but to rest, I had to miss teaching most of my classes, and when I did go back to work, I couldn’t make it a full day. During that time, I did a lot of thinking, and had a lot of questions around my art practice. Some self-doubt crept in too, and it was when I came out on the other end this week, that the gratitude of feeling better – of having the energy to get back to some exercise and to feel like I was firing on all cylinders when teaching – that I had a new perspective on my work.

In the last few years, because my practice extended into mediums other than painting and drawing, I have wondered if I was diluting my work, or missing out on the kind of growth that comes with focusing on one medium, or if I might be perceived as not being a serious artist, and on and on… the kind of thinking that might sometimes help strengthen beliefs, but that more often brings on generally crappy feelings.

The kind of gratitude I am feeling – the kind that comes from feeling OK after having been sick – is a clarity that I am on the right path and that I am growing as an artist. The growth is subtle now and my path isn’t linear, but that’s OK.

If you want to get monthly-ish emails with more of my musings and behind the scenes from my studio, you can subscribe here.

That Good Darkness, oil and acrylic on canvas, 24 x 24 inches

This painting That Good Darkness is available from Artfolios here.

Art in Embassies Bishkek Catalog

Last summer in June 2023, one of my paintings, Field and Forest with Pink, was carefully packed up by an art shipper and left my studio to travel to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, for the US Department of State’s Art in Embassies program. At the time, I wrote about it here.

Recently I received a surprise package from the Department of State containing some catalogs featuring my work along with the other paintings in the Bishkek exhibit. Happily, they also sent me a link to share so that you can view it online. You can peruse the exhibition catalog here.

I love that this Art in Embassies program exists, and I can’t believe that my artwork is being used as a kind of soft power for diplomacy.

Field And Forest With Pink, acrylic on wood, 18 x 24 inches

New Exhibit Opening at The Art Gallery at Congdon Yards

“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 and 2023 Year in Review

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.
  • Saatchi Art featured my painting Of Stones and Earth and Air in their gallery.
  • 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…

Turkey Hangover – A Remedy and a Gift Guide!

It’s the day after Thanksgiving, and I’m feeling slightly hungover and I don’t even drink. I’ll blame that second plate of food I served myself even though I was full.

We all know the best remedy is spending some time moving your body outside getting some fresh air and sunlight in your eyes. Assuming you’ve already done that or are planning to later today, what’s the next best thing? Art of course! In that vein, here’s a guide for gifting art for everyone on your list:

For the plant lover

A pack of 10 greeting cards, each featuring a different botanical watercolor of plants I found on walks near my home.

For the one seeking peace and calm

A book featuring 100 watercolors inspired by the poetry of nature: color and light in the landscape, seasons, and the passing of time. Each watercolor was made as a kind of meditation and as a love letter to life and painting.

For the cyclist

A print of my painting “The Cyclists” available in a standard and easy to frame size: 11×14 inches. All my prints are archival pigment prints on heavy weight matte fine art paper and I sign each one.

For the mystery lover

Midday wander, oil on canvas, 40 x 30 inches

An oil painting of people exploring a mysterious landscape…

For the Dog Lover

Land With Dog, oil and acrylic on canvas, 24 x 24 inches

When I made this, I didn’t mean to paint a dog. When I finished, it was just there. It happens.

For the backyard lover

Petals Fall In The Pond 2, oil on panel, 14 x 11 inches

A  contemplative painting playing with the colors and shapes of chairs and table and trees, creating a space for conversation.

For the person who has everything

Of Stones and Earth and Air, oil on canvas, 60 x 72 inches

A painting so big it will fill a wall. This painting is 5 feet tall x 6 feet wide. It’s so big, when you put it in a room, you don’t even need furniture.

And after you’ve chosen your perfect art gifts, I recommend another walk out in the sun, listening to birds singing and hearing leaves crackling under foot. Cheers!

New Paintings Arriving!

We finally got around to shooting my new work this weekend… which means these paintings will be available for purchase. Subscribers will get first dibs this week before the work goes live here on my shop, so if you don’t already get my emails, follow this LINK to sign up.

There is something odd or awkward about the images, and at the same time a sense of joy. By playing with shapes, color and composition, I’m searching for a way to elevate the ordinary.

Searching on the Wind… and Paper Mountain is coming BACK!

I’m super excited to share with you that the Sechrest Gallery at High Point University has invited me to show Paper Mountain, Sky Project and a group of paintings in a solo show this fall. If you’ve been following my work for a few years, you might remember Paper Mountain as the 14-foot tall mountain of 1200 folded paper cranes I suspended at Elder Gallery of Contemporary Art in spring 2019. The project took a couple of years from start to finish, and seeing it installed was truly validating as an artist, so I’m happy to be able to exhibit it in another space and to share it with more people. Stay tuned for more about that as we get closer to installation week in October.

With its sheer size, Paper Mountain can be an immersive experience for viewers. While my newest paintings aren’t monumental in scale, the paintings in the Searching on the wind collection are immersive in their special own way.

These landscapes evoke wide open spaces: big skies, meadows, forests, mountains and rivers. Each painting is a meditative play of shapes and colors.

If you let them, these paintings may just transport you to your favorite mountain or river or forest… 

Find them all HERE and please don’t hesitate to message me if you have questions about any of the work, payment or shipping.

PS: Recently a client asked me if it was safe to ship paintings these days. The answer is YES! I am shipping artwork wherever USPS, Fedex and UPS will travel.

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