Shanghai Art Symposium

I traveled to Shanghai, China January 3rd – 13th for the ArtShape Mammoth Symposium and Art Exhibition. Vera Sun, who lives in Shanghai, was our curator, interpreter and guide.

Special thanks to Vera, Amy and ArtShape Mammoth for all of the planning. And to all of my generous friends and family who made the trip financially possible through an Indiegogo fundraising campaign. I also received funding from a University of Wisconsin – Barron County Professional Development grant.

Thank you Chen Qiang, Que Fengguo, Pan Wei and Huang Yuanqing for letting us tour your art studios and for sharing in the art conversation, the Vanke Center and curator Polo for hosting the 5×5 event, and the East China Normal University Art Department.

The art exhibition was held at Gallery 203 at 50 Moganshan Road, which is a popular art district in Shanghai.

 

L-R Kristin Tordella-Williams, Amy Joy Hosterman, Vera Sun, David Alban, Jessica Mongeon, Aubrey Roemer

Gallery owner and Artist Chen Qiang introducing the group

“Connections III, II, I”

“Mind Forest II, I”

“Out of the Ether”

Aubrey

Vera

Amy

Kristin

David

Near the Gallery

Visiting Artist Lecture at East China Normal University. My lecture was titled, “Mountains to Forests, How Nature Influences Art”

A conversation between 5 artists from the U.S. and China at the Vanke Center:

Art around the city:

Shanghai Art Museum

China Art Temple

Studio Visits

Yibo Gallery

The Power Station

Shanghai Art and Design 2016: Trans Design

3-D Printer

Art and Design Conference

Typography

The Bund:

Yuyuan Garden

 

Lake Superior Driftwood

I’ve always been fascinated by driftwood. Something about the smooth, bleached, bonelike quality of the wood appeals to the senses. And if you step into a gift shop anywhere near an ocean or in my case, the Great Lakes, you will see that many artists and craftspeople feel the same.

These are some photographs that I took during a recent vacation to Lake Superior, at Park Point Beach in Duluth, MN.

When I returned from my vacation I decided to start a painting without a specific goal in mind. I started laying down brushstrokes, and they evolved into a body of water with a horizon, and then a sunset. Finally I painted driftwood, swirling around the axis of the sun.

Driftwood 20 x 28 in. Acrylic on stone paper, 2016

Details:

Camouflage Fall Edition

Today I created a new version of my “Camouflage” installation at a petite, rusty waterfall named “Devil’s Kettle” in the Blue Hills. The movement of the water reminded me of Andy Goldsworthy’s green leaf chain, so I decided to place my paintings in the water and photograph them as they moved. The way that the moving water arranged the paintings was exciting, it took away my control of the composition and relationship between the shapes. In the end they were pushed to a line along the edge of the pool. Here’s a video with the lovely waterfall sounds.

I’m planning to photograph the paintings during the three seasons. (Not including road construction) In August I photographed them in a summer landscape, I will have to wait a couple of months for the winter edition.

Shanghai Symposium and Exhibition

Hello,

I have the chance to go to China in January to show my artwork at the Mingyuan Art Museum in a group exhibition with 6 other artists. I will also visit artist studios and galleries in Shanghai, so I need to raise some funds for my travel expenses. Please check out my Indiegogo campaign, this is a great opportunity to acquire some of my original art for a great price! Please share with your friends as well to get the word out.

Here’s the link:

Help me go to China to Exhibit my artwork!

Thanks!

Jessica

Mushroom Installations

Stump

Meadow

Birch

I spent the last week at the Visitor Center Artist Camp: Sustainable Practices Symposium in Ewen Michigan. This is a new series that came out of the experience, they are acrylic on Terraskin paper, installed along the trail near the campground.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We slept in tents and spent most of our time outside. Here’s a link to the residency.

Jessica Mongeon – Rice Lake, Wisconsin

Check out my interview for 365 Artists/365 Days!

365 Artists | 365 Days

Fractal
Digitally printed fabric, steel wire
36 x 36 x 5 in.
2015

Briefly describe the work you do.

I explore geographic formations and organisms that are found in nature through acrylic painting. My process begins with photocopy transfers of digital photographs, then I change the reference points and surroundings. Terrain is composed of fractals, so without a frame of reference it can be nearly impossible to determine scale. 

I allow spontaneity and chaos to play a role in my paintings, as a way to connect to disorder and entropy. This involves spraying, dripping, and applying color with wide hake brushes onto an absorbent panel. An otherworldly element is added as I contort and manipulate the illusion of space on the painted surface, intuitively working in layers. Pours, drips and blooms of pigment speak to gravity and help to create an illusion of deep space or surface tension. 

Tell us…

View original post 998 more words

Fractal Sculpture

I’m really excited about my new project that incorporates fabric and sculpture. I just discovered a website where you can create your own printed fabrics called Spoonflower. 

Then I uploaded one of my recent paintings, Baroque Abundance II. I repeated and rotated the design to create radial symmetry and relate to fractal geometry.

This is the original painting.

Printed Fabric

Wall Sculpture

I sculpted a wire structure for the back, and used Golden GAC 400 to stiffen the fabric.

Fractal 36 x 36 x 5 in.

Newspaper, magazine, radio, oh my!

Of the Earth: Paintings by Jessica Mongeon opened May 1 in downtown Eau Claire, Wisconsin at the Volume One Gallery on Dewey Street.

The show has been getting a lot of press, including an interview in the Volume One Magazine (the headquarters happen to be in the same building as the show), an article in the local Rice Lake Newspaper, and a radio interview on Western Wisconsin Public Radio’s Arts Spectrum West program.

You can listen to the interview by clicking the link below. My part begins at 22 min. into the program.

http://www.wpr.org/listen/759006

Since many of you won’t be driving to Eau Claire this summer, I included a gallery of many of the paintings as well as some photos of the installation. The rest of the paintings can be found on my website. The exhibition closes July 4th.

Here are some photos from the opening.

11 x 14 in. Works on paper, Acrylic, photo transfer on watercolor paper

Fern Gully aka Spring in the Blue Hills

It’s a beautiful day in Northwest Wisconsin. I went on a short hike to a small waterfall called Devil’s Kettle today. I wonder if it’s called that because the water is red. Here are some of my photos from the excursion, I have a feeling those colors and images will make their way into my paintings soon.

Intrinsic Terrain

Saturday was the opening for Intrinsic Terrain, a two person exhibition at the Lost Coast Culture Machine.  Jannell Turner flew into San Francisco from Brooklyn and I flew in from Minneapolis, we rented a car and drove up the coast and through wine country to Fort Bragg. It was a fun trip, and the exhibition looks great. It was nice to visit with people who attended the show from the area. Now we have displayed our paintings on both coasts.

Intrinsic Terrain presents ideas of wilderness and environment in contemporary painting from a psychological viewpoint, using color and movement to manipulate traditional landscape views into an expression of a deeper state of being. The rugged and varied landscapes of the Northern California coast are the perfect setting for this series. The exhibition will be on display until February 22, 2015, and was facilitated by ArtShape Mammoth.

Gallery Dog, Virgil – A gentle giant

Tempting Fate and Entropy II

Microcosm II and Jannell’s Nasturtium Diptych

Jannell’s Biomorphic series

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

While stopping at a scenic overlook we randomly met these two photographers, they took our portrait and let me snap this photo of them. I love it!