Jess Marie Walker
Pen and ink on 80lb/124gsm white sulphite drawing paper folded into a Balsawood box, closed: 2 x 3.875 x 3.875 inches, open: 5.25 x 15 x 4.5 inches. $475
Serigraph on 120lb/320gsm Fawn Stonehenge paper. Box includes 70 puzzle pages, 4 clue cards, 1 title page, and 1 edition/signature page. 4.25 x 2.125 x 1.25 inches, number 3 from an edition of 5. $273
Statement
In the Spring I produced an imaginative drawing of mountains, ‘Spirit Mountains for Papa,’ inspired by my mountain-loving Father, Barry Clark Walker (1942-2009). Motivated by that drawing, a new body of work is now in-process, titled ‘drawing mountains.’ For the series I am using photographic sources, as opposed to working imaginatively. Although, not just any images accumulated from random media sources. My approach is through a collective, working collaboratively, using a universal personal point of view. Content and inspiration is being drawn from the personal photographs of mountains posted by members of the Mountain Maker Cohorts FaceBook group, specifically developed for this work. This piece is the first completed work of this project.
Compelled by the controlling role rhythm can play in an often chaotic environment, it is my goal to provide series of concentrated images, forms and when possible audio/visual experiences that will describe or depict discoveries of simple, rhythmic elements. A search for essential and orderly properties of organic forms, patterns, and systems directs my explorations where collected material is dissected and recorded as stylized data. The outcome of these exercises in observation and dissection as thematic intent has become apparent in all of my work including drawings, prints, books, and ceramics, as well as multi-media installation and performance work.
Biography
Since graduating from the University of Montevallo with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in 1994, I have continued to work as an interdisciplinary artist, allowing content to filter between different mediums, referencing one to another. In addition to producing and exhibiting my studio work, I curate gallery exhibitions and performance programming, design event installations, and coordinate/instruct special project art classes. Occasionally, I do graphic design and art or art education consultant work as well.
Currently, my studio is in the Strand Theater Building in Montevallo, AL where I am developing new bodies of work for 2009-2011 exhibitions; “drawing mountains,” a series of pen and ink drawings, watercolor mono serigraphs and unique bookworks inspired by photographs of mountain ranges (developed in collaboration with the mountain maker cohorts FaceBook group) and “texturial,” an in-process multi-media performance/installation utilizing descriptive words and my “pen and ink studies” as the foundation for developmental elements of sound, video, sculpture, and movement. As these new bodies are being developed, continuation of my “pen and ink studies” and “orbis poculli” (atmosphere fired ceramic pinch pots) are also in process.
