Jameson Wells at Bareiss
‘Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere.” (G. K. Chesterton)
FOR JAMESON WELLS, every canvas begins with a line — and a lot to ponder. The Arroyo Hondo artist said, “How does a mere definition by a line create the impression of something? How [do you] tune into the small whisper within, or the silence that underlies all the busyness of living?”
“Paintings seem to me to bring out questions one could ask about ‘reality.’ What is real or appears so, but isn’t; the weaving of events that create a situation; about relationships; about thoughts or ideas we have but don’t manifest.”
Explore these questions and more when Wells premiers “Lightworks,” a 40-year perspective on her art, at Bareiss Gallery in El Prado. There will be an opening reception on Friday (May 27) from 1-5 p.m. and admission is free.
The exhibition follows the extraordinary evolution of Wells’ process, from her stone sculptures to her colorful and dimensional wall hangings to her most recent mixed media collage paintings. At the heart of it all, however, is the artist’s commitment to listening to her inner voice and allowing the moment to carry forward the piece in front of her.
Begin your circuit through the show with Wells’ crystal alabaster sculptures,
created in reflection of her interest in astrology, numerology and sacred geometry — fractal patterns found in nature, or “energy patterns,” she noted.
By the early 1980s, Wells began creating her acclaimed wall reliefs sculpted from heavy watercolor paper saturated with water, then treated with acrylic polymer before being bent and molded into freeform shapes. Bold hues of oil paint adorn the finished, multicolored sculptures.
Of her latest paintings, she said, “My new work uses remnants of canvas rolls, old jeans, random cut paper and fabrics, pieces of manufactured borders and edges. The process of making the paintings is inherent in the design of the painting itself, where pieces are added, subtracted, woven, painted or drawn around or on or under, or are actually illusory. There are images and ghost images. They are built with a high degree of chance in the process, as well as with silent contemplation.”
She employs a neutral oil palette which mimics the striations of alabaster: a return to shades of soft creams and smoky grays, sometimes accentuated with sparks of blues or reds. Tucked into the textural abstract geometry of each canvas, one will often find organic shapes that shift with the viewer’s frame of reference, lending movement and quiet contemplation to the piece.
Wells’ childhood in Baltimore was an immersion into art and music, with family elders encouraging both her and her siblings in the process of creating. When the time came to attend college, she chose a degree program in sociology and psychology, but the sway of art eventually caught her, and she received a second B.A. degree in Fine Arts from Towson University.
“I was fortunate to study with Enrique Montenegro at Towson, who had been a graduate assistant for Richard Diebenkorn at UNM,” she recalled. “So I have him to thank for both introducing me to the art of Diebenkorn, who’s still my favorite artist, and to New Mexico.” After graduation she
took a Greyhound bus from Maryland to Santa Fe, living both there and in Madrid until she settled in Taos.
Her studio, surrounded by the idyllic views of Arroyo Hondo, is situated on a sprawling tract of land that she and her husband, Richard McCracken, purchased on which to build their home. The couple share their affinity for the mountains — McCracken was one of four climbers featured in “El Capitan,” a documentary chronicling the first big-wall ascent of The Nose — and a love of Irish music, taking their fiddle and octave mandolin into town for a jam sesh, sometimes inviting outof-towners to join in.
Back at home, the peaceful solitude of Wells’ surroundings lends her the mental space to ponder the Zen of her avocation. “It’s go from one line to the next.”
“I sit out here in the darkness and look up at the Milky Way, trying to wrap my head around our smallness and the fact that we’re but a speck of dust,” she mused. “I think that’s the purpose of an artist: to embody a spiritual consciousness, to awaken it,”
She quoted the 14th century Persian lyric poet, Hafiz. “True art makes the divine silence in the soul break into applause.” There’s no question Jameson Wells hears it often.
“Lightworks” will be available for viewing through June 13. Weekday hours are 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., and weekend hours are 1 to 5 p.m. “For everyone’s sake, please wear a mask.”
Bareiss Gallery is located at 15 State Road 150 in El Prado. For further information, call 575-776-2284, or visit taosartappraisal.com. Learn more about the artist at jamesonwellsart.com.