Jane Harris: Aim High

We just had a wonderful talk by visiting artist Jane Harris. http://www.janeharris.net/

Harris is a British artist living in the countryside in Southwestern France with her husband and child.  (whom she had at age 38... just enjoy whatever happens.  She just thought she's try and she loves having a son though never thought she wanted children before). She began with a DVD that showcased her installation at the Aldrich Museum, CT. She does paintings and parallels them with drawings and watercolors based on the elipse.  Her pieces are mathematically and technically perfect and they showcase the beauty of the oil paint, graphite and pigment. She uses sheets of imperial sized Fabriano 22 x 30" watercolor paper with a mechanical pencil and elipse architectural templates.

Harris was inspired by the Japanese gardens in Japan and her paintings have a zen-like quality. Her color choices come from every day scenes that catch her eye, such as light coming through trees.  Each one is made up from 3-5 layers of paint.  Each layer takes about 16 hours.  In her oil paintings, brushstrokes and color shifts creating form when light hits the metallic paint at different angles.  She told me she used to draw shapes as a child and color them in.

Harris presented an Honor List of artists who have inspired and influenced her work. She gives her undying gratitude to
Piero Della Francesca- serenity, color, mathematical precision White Dove
Vermeer- touches of paint, light on form. Girl with Pearl Earring
Cezanne- same sized brushwork sky and ground Bathers
Seurat- too short life, oil sketches, dots of color  Sunday afternoon
Picasso and Braque- multiple viewpoints
Morandi- subtle color and tough shifts into leaps
Magritte- thinking through foreground and background
Mondrian- grids, sometimes naughty
Joseph Albers- color play, spacial illusion
Malevich- Black square- Russian Orthodox traditions
Agnes Martin- quiet, subtle recognized at age 45!
Bridget Riley- Balance, proportion, coordination, economy, unity, form influences behavior.
"Doing is essential to find out what form your thought takes"
Gerhard Richter- Sublime beauty  (2 styles)
Simon Link- conceptual
David Reed
Tomma Abts- precise, controlled forms, patterns, shifted
Elsworth Kelly- greens, appreciate living in country side
Ed Rouche- perfect name for an artist OOF whit, clarity, economy, words have abstract shapes they live in a world with no size.

After a nice lunch, Jane gave us personal critiques.
She asked me- What is your ambition? Who is your audience? County, state, national, international? Understand which context you want to be in. Some people are perfectly happy at the level they are at BUT If you want to be international- look at the people who are recognized (Gerhard, Richter, John Currin, Yuskavage, Glenn Brown) and ask yourself-what do they do to push the figure to another level so it can't be ignored?

She told me to "Aim high". She said I don't HAVE to choose one medium and I probably can't!  She said it's great to have so many skills and tools, now it's time to be more analytical and critical about where it can go. She recommended I look at:

Sigmar Polke- A German artist who uses various techniques, printing, photography and all in the form of a painting.  He combines the figure with abstract and has a political identity.

Gerhard Richter- who works in two distinctive styles. She told me to read their writings. Look closely about what is possible, read about what they have to say about art. What makes them different? Look at how John Currin and Glenn Brown have pushed the figure to the point of discomfort...

Make a decision to be an artist. To live the life of an artist.  Be totally committed to a life as an artist. Make work for art's sake. It's not just self- expression and therapeutic. Become more strategic, cold hearted, critical about who it's for. She told me to ask myself:

What is it that I can offer that is quite different? (Photography, Photoshop, Painting, ceramics, education)

Make a list: What are the things that really interest me, excite me, stimulate me?


Scot Kaylor- When you have an idea, ask yourself: " Is this an art school project, or is this working on ideas that interest me?"