The past year had its challenges, but we worked hard to see through them, to keep moving forward. Now we turn our gaze to higher goals and ideas that bring inspiration, hope and joy. I enjoy seeing the “new beginnings” as I play with familiar shapes and figures across my canvases using different colors, textures and themes that bring delight; inscribing and embedding new pictographic messages to uplift and challenge ways of old thinking into new ways and ideas, therefore, creating new beginnings.
This year I am offering two pigment paint workshops. In these workshops I teach the processes I use from collecting minerals to using them to paint on a canvas or a clay surface. One is possible at the end of March and the other in June. Both are to be held at the Piper J Gallery in Truckee. I hope to finalize the dates soon. Also, please contact me with questions or considerations of possible private group workshops or pigment collecting hikes here in Nevada City or other places nearby.
On another note, the Wild and Scenic Film Festival begins next week, Thursday February 13, at Center for the Arts in Grass Valley, CA to kick off the festival with its annual Art Exhibition and Reception, “Wild at Heart” 4:30 – 6:30. Come join us! You are very welcome! The Festival runs Feb 13 – 23.
I have one large painting in the show, “In A Purple Universe” and three sculpture pieces from an installation, “Echoes of Wonder: A Reindeer Garden,” showcased at the Piper J Gallery, Truckee CA, in September 2024 and in the Open Studios Tour here in Nevada County West, October 2024
Lastly, included in this blog is a link to a video, a short trailer to a longer film, made this past year. It is introduced by my daughter, Ashley, and shows a glimpse of how we work together to hike, collect minerals and process them. The film, “Nature to Art” was produced by Jayanti Sakar, Graduate student at UNR.
Keep In Touch! Enjoy and Kind regards,
Jennifer
Jennifer Rugge 