Traditional pysanky on chicken and duck shells
White chicken shell, pysanky
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April:
Dual Show at City Folk Gallery in Lancaster, PA. The theme is "Heritage: Now & Then" where I explore cultures past and present, weaving them together and combining them into something new. The opening reception is First Friday, April 7 from 5 to 9 pm. May: The View at The Art Trust at Meridian Bank. April 12 - May 29, 2017 Opening Reception and West Chester Gallery Walk on May 5, 5-8:30 pm. Preview the works of all the artists on the Chester County Studio Tour in one location. Each artist on the tour has one artwork at this special show. All work is for sale. Chester County Studio Tour (Tour Stop #20)! It is that time already, if you can believe. I will be leaving my own studio and traveling down the road to join Justin Smith, owner of Ivystone Studio in Downingtown. The other guest artists are: Heather Davis, Liz Griesser and Lynnette Shelley. Mark the date now: May 20 and May 21. June: The first Montgomery County Studio Tour! Mark your calendars to join me at the Beech Studio (Tour Stop #3) at 36 Walnut Street in Pottstown. Lisa Applegate, Nancy Nalbandian, Patrick Traini and I are excited to present fine art and fine jewelry for you for the unique people in your lives. The tour is June 10 and 11, rain or shine. Saturday hours are 10 am to 6 pm, Sunday hours are 11 am to 5 pm. July and August: Summer Camp at Chester County Art Association...sign up now!!!! You can find my work at: Exton Square Studio Gallery Exton Square Mall Exton, PA JAM Gallery 321 East King Street Malvern, PA CityFolk 146 North Prince Street Lancaster, PA The Prana House 109 North Church Street West Chester, PA The Palette & The Page 120 East Main Street Elkton, MD |
Jennifer lives in scenic West Chester, Pennsylvania with her husband and a menagerie of pets that include three dogs, three cats, some ducks and a parrot with a pond full of fish that lend inspiration to her work.
Pysanky, an egg art know as Ukrainian eggs, is a folk art she has been creating since she was three years old and is still finding new ways and new methods of stretching the boundaries of egg art. Jennifer uses dip pens and watercolor pencil on paper to create her drawings and loves the challenge paint and collage brings in creating two dimensional works.
Pysanky, an egg art know as Ukrainian eggs, is a folk art she has been creating since she was three years old and is still finding new ways and new methods of stretching the boundaries of egg art. Jennifer uses dip pens and watercolor pencil on paper to create her drawings and loves the challenge paint and collage brings in creating two dimensional works.
About me
Work in progress: beeswax on shell
design inspired by ceramic pots
I'm frequently asked how I started writing eggs. My heritage is Polish and Lithuanian so I was born into the custom. I began writing eggs at three. The first eggs were written with a cotton swab dipped in melted wax. My parents did the style of drop-pull where colored wax was written on a dyed egg. These beautiful eggs use the simplest of tools: a pin pushed into the eraser of a pencil.
Later, we began using kistky (styluses that have a reservoir for molten beeswax) to write pysanky in a technique that is exactly like batik on cloth.
I became entranced and fascinated with the storytelling and legends associated with the eggs. We went to museums frequently and I found ancient cultures calling me with the geometric patterns, repetition, movement of line and shape, gorgeous tapestries filled with woven stories lines and the glorious rich color palette so similar to the eggs I grew up making.
Since this was before the internet and the ease of Google, books and trips to natural history and fine art museums filled my mind with an appreciation for the ability of man to tell a visual story with line and dot that could be translated across time. People groups in the Pacific Northwest have patterns that are remarkably similar to Neolithic patterns on Trypyllian pottery which is in what is now Ukraine. The colors are different but the curvilinear designs are the same.
My personal aesthetic is describing the beauty of nature through line and dot using the language of geometry. I love the feel of shells, how different they are, the science of them, how they work with different media, the sound tools make on them. Only paper is as lovely to me as an egg shell. And my work on paper is really just a pysanka that is flat!
I teach private lessons to children and adults in writing pysanky, drawing, painting, sculpture and general art. I can be found at area art centers and galleries.
Later, we began using kistky (styluses that have a reservoir for molten beeswax) to write pysanky in a technique that is exactly like batik on cloth.
I became entranced and fascinated with the storytelling and legends associated with the eggs. We went to museums frequently and I found ancient cultures calling me with the geometric patterns, repetition, movement of line and shape, gorgeous tapestries filled with woven stories lines and the glorious rich color palette so similar to the eggs I grew up making.
Since this was before the internet and the ease of Google, books and trips to natural history and fine art museums filled my mind with an appreciation for the ability of man to tell a visual story with line and dot that could be translated across time. People groups in the Pacific Northwest have patterns that are remarkably similar to Neolithic patterns on Trypyllian pottery which is in what is now Ukraine. The colors are different but the curvilinear designs are the same.
My personal aesthetic is describing the beauty of nature through line and dot using the language of geometry. I love the feel of shells, how different they are, the science of them, how they work with different media, the sound tools make on them. Only paper is as lovely to me as an egg shell. And my work on paper is really just a pysanka that is flat!
I teach private lessons to children and adults in writing pysanky, drawing, painting, sculpture and general art. I can be found at area art centers and galleries.
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My work is available at:
City Folk 146 N. Prince Street Lancaster, Pennsylvania 17603 (717) 803-8807 www.cityfolkonprince.com The Palette & the Page 120 East Main Street Elkton, Maryland 21921 (410) 398-3636 www.thepaletteandthepage.com JAM Gallery 321 East King Street Malvern, Pennsylvania 19355 (484) 328-3553 www.jamgallerymalvern.com The Prana House 109 North Church Street West Chester, Pennsylvania 19380 610-436-1407 www.thepranahouse.com I can ship artwork anywhere in the world. |
photo credit: Daria McBride
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