Featured Artist Jan Brandt

Artist Jan Brandt transforms childhood memories into vibrant, textural contemporary paintings. See more by visiting her website.

 

 

As I near my seventh decade, my thoughts frequently harken back to my childhood. Living on a farm and visiting cousins and grandparents on their farms was magical. Pastures, old growth timber forest, babbling creeks, a river, farm animals, and wildlife.

 

 

Most importantly, I had permission to roam and engage with my cousins in imaginative play. They were key to these memories.

 

 

I sense these memories are flooding back to remind me to tell my stories through artwork. The lushness of those natural settings is exemplified by the thick layering of paint in 2D work and clusters of beading and fabric in my fiber art.

 

 

The intense vibrancy and texture of my work serve the purpose of identifying the importance of the memories of my natural childhood playground. Botanical elements such as flowers, grasses and trees are abstracted in various expressions, some more literal than others.

 

 

Freely changing styles of abstraction and realism is a reminder of how memories and dreams come to one’s consciousness. Fragmented subject matter floats through the composition in a non-traditional multi-perspectival form.

 

 

Lusciously saturated colors, chosen for vibrancy, delineated and dotted with children’s puffy paint, create images that are tactile and inviting, willing the memories to come to the forefront.

 

 

I realize more and more how fortunate I was to have these childhood experiences. As I age, the pain of arthritis has become commonplace. Worrying about loved ones, losing dear friends and family members is difficult. Positivity feels good and making artwork is integral to me.

 

 

This quest for happiness manifests in creating artwork as a form of gratitude for the beauty I was able to experience in the glorious flat farmland of the Midwest. Skies that went on forever in the distance, colors that changed with the time of day, the heady scent of prairie grass and indigenous plants, sparkling, babbling brooks, and the childlike peals of laughter from my cousins are all represented as magical subject matter in my work.

 

Jan Brandt invites you to follow on Facebook and Instagram and her gallery.

 

 

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