Walking into The Starving Artist to interview artist Jennifer Perellie, I wasn’t sure what to expect. This, according to Jennifer, is a common dilemma. She says that people don’t seem to be able to match her look to her art. “I’m young, I have some pink hair but my work is in a fine art gallery and it’s happy and cheery!” Jennifer laughs. My reaction, however, was shocked. She may claim that her “happy and cheery” art doesn’t match her, but Jennifer is immediately relatable, funny, and, well, “happy and cheery.” The quote that hangs behind her in the store reads, “I used to be an artist, but I couldn’t handle the starving part.” I laugh, wondering how anyone could miss her cheery sense of humor hanging right in front of them. And, as for not matching her look to one of a fine artist, Jennifer is wrong. She is, more than anything, an artist to her core. She has always been an artist.
“I’ve always wanted to be an artist,” she says. “When I was a little kid I wanted to be an artist. My best memories are coloring. I remember coloring Cinderella and all the princesses. I had all the Disney coloring books…I loved it. I always remember doing some kind of art and loving it.” She never lost her love for it. She still hasn’t, but success hasn’t changed her. She remains humble, telling me, “I was always good at it, also. She laughs and hesitates, adding, “I guess.”
Fortunately for Jennifer, she guessed right. She finally put four paintings up in the Red Barn art show in 2004 and “took the leap.” She was nervous, but sold a painting the first day of the show. “It was really hard for me to give the painting up,” she remembers. Although she admits that it is now easier to let her paintings go, she still misses a few, such as her favorite piece titled Look At The Sky.
“It was the first time I had used horizontal tissue paper,” she recalls about Look At The Sky. As she talks about the piece, she describes a big red poppy that “your eye follows all the way through.” She smiles, envisioning the painting and I realize how much she does match her art. The happiness she emanates is the same feeling that comes from art like the piece she is thinking about.
It makes sense, however, that her pieces bring out such emotion as she is inspired by people. “I consider all of my flowers to be groups of people. I wish I could paint people better. I used to consider myself a watercolor portrait artist.” Her titles are clues to the groups of people that inspire each painting. She brings up a picture of one of her paintings. “I was missing being in college and I did this one. It’s called community gathering.” Then, she picks out another. “This one is of me and my friends. It is called Sense of Place. I did it right after I graduated, because I felt like I was in my sense of place after that.” Finally, she picks out one painted after she became a partner at the Artisans’ Gallery. She describes having constant meetings and calling one another all the time, and shows me Talking Amongst Eachother, a painting inspired by those interactions.
Jennifer describes her artistic style as “always evolving.” What is most wonderful about the evolution of her art, however, is that sometimes is comes unexpectedly. When she first went back to doing her art after a lapse, she went back because she had the option to paint a picture instead of write a paper for a college project. When she began to add mixed media such as tissue paper to her watercolors, it was because she found out that tissue paper was a technique used by Eric Carle. Carle was an artist she had been reading much of due to a nanny-ing job at the time.
As far as Jennifer’s creative process goes, she deems music one of the most important parts. “I have to listen to music,” she says, “Usually, when I am getting ready for a show I listen to the same CD over and over again for one show. Last year all I did was listen to Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. I also like Fleetwood Mac and The Band.”
The most important thing to know about her, however, is not how she paints or what she paints, but what she believes about her art. She answers that question, “I don’t take it seriously. I don’t understand why people have to try and live off of their art to be a successful artist. Selling a painting for me doesn’t make me successful.” For Jennifer, the work is more about having fun. “The subject isn’t serious, it’s fun. It just makes people happy.”
Finally, Jennifer gets to what she believes is the best part about her art. “The best thing ever,” she says, “is that I am in shows with artists that I grew up in awe of, like Marilyn Ruseckas.” (Ruseckas is Perellie’s favorite local artist). “I’ve connected more with my community through my art. My work is hanging on the same walls as all of them. I never ever in a million years thought that would ever happen.” Then, she ends with a comment so fittingly happy that I can’t remember why I expected anyone different in the first place, admitting “and I still can’t believe it.”
By Jenna Duncan Valley Reporter, July 30th 2009
August 09, 2009
Always An Artist
Walking into The Starving Artist to interview artist Jennifer Perellie, I wasn’t sure what to expect. This, according to Jennifer, is a common dilemma. She says that people don’t seem to be able to match her look to her art. “I’m young, I have some pink hair but my work is in a fine art gallery and it’s happy and cheery!” Jennifer laughs. My reaction, however, was shocked. She may claim that her “happy and cheery” art doesn’t match her, but Jennifer is immediately relatable, funny, and, well, “happy and cheery.” The quote that hangs behind her in the store reads, “I used to be an artist, but I couldn’t handle the starving part.” I laugh, wondering how anyone could miss her cheery sense of humor hanging right in front of them. And, as for not matching her look to one of a fine artist, Jennifer is wrong. She is, more than anything, an artist to her core. She has always been an artist.
“I’ve always wanted to be an artist,” she says. “When I was a little kid I wanted to be an artist. My best memories are coloring. I remember coloring Cinderella and all the princesses. I had all the Disney coloring books…I loved it. I always remember doing some kind of art and loving it.” She never lost her love for it. She still hasn’t, but success hasn’t changed her. She remains humble, telling me, “I was always good at it, also. She laughs and hesitates, adding, “I guess.”
Fortunately for Jennifer, she guessed right. She finally put four paintings up in the Red Barn art show in 2004 and “took the leap.” She was nervous, but sold a painting the first day of the show. “It was really hard for me to give the painting up,” she remembers. Although she admits that it is now easier to let her paintings go, she still misses a few, such as her favorite piece titled Look At The Sky.
“It was the first time I had used horizontal tissue paper,” she recalls about Look At The Sky. As she talks about the piece, she describes a big red poppy that “your eye follows all the way through.” She smiles, envisioning the painting and I realize how much she does match her art. The happiness she emanates is the same feeling that comes from art like the piece she is thinking about.
It makes sense, however, that her pieces bring out such emotion as she is inspired by people. “I consider all of my flowers to be groups of people. I wish I could paint people better. I used to consider myself a watercolor portrait artist.” Her titles are clues to the groups of people that inspire each painting. She brings up a picture of one of her paintings. “I was missing being in college and I did this one. It’s called community gathering.” Then, she picks out another. “This one is of me and my friends. It is called Sense of Place. I did it right after I graduated, because I felt like I was in my sense of place after that.” Finally, she picks out one painted after she became a partner at the Artisans’ Gallery. She describes having constant meetings and calling one another all the time, and shows me Talking Amongst Eachother, a painting inspired by those interactions.
Jennifer describes her artistic style as “always evolving.” What is most wonderful about the evolution of her art, however, is that sometimes is comes unexpectedly. When she first went back to doing her art after a lapse, she went back because she had the option to paint a picture instead of write a paper for a college project. When she began to add mixed media such as tissue paper to her watercolors, it was because she found out that tissue paper was a technique used by Eric Carle. Carle was an artist she had been reading much of due to a nanny-ing job at the time.
As far as Jennifer’s creative process goes, she deems music one of the most important parts. “I have to listen to music,” she says, “Usually, when I am getting ready for a show I listen to the same CD over and over again for one show. Last year all I did was listen to Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. I also like Fleetwood Mac and The Band.”
The most important thing to know about her, however, is not how she paints or what she paints, but what she believes about her art. She answers that question, “I don’t take it seriously. I don’t understand why people have to try and live off of their art to be a successful artist. Selling a painting for me doesn’t make me successful.” For Jennifer, the work is more about having fun. “The subject isn’t serious, it’s fun. It just makes people happy.”
Finally, Jennifer gets to what she believes is the best part about her art. “The best thing ever,” she says, “is that I am in shows with artists that I grew up in awe of, like Marilyn Ruseckas.” (Ruseckas is Perellie’s favorite local artist). “I’ve connected more with my community through my art. My work is hanging on the same walls as all of them. I never ever in a million years thought that would ever happen.” Then, she ends with a comment so fittingly happy that I can’t remember why I expected anyone different in the first place, admitting “and I still can’t believe it.”
By Jenna Duncan Valley Reporter, July 30th 2009
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