Artist’s Statement

“Guardians of the Meadow” exhibition includes a series of paintings created from 2014 to 2016 that explore connections between human, animal, and natural worlds prompting consideration of our role as stewards for the earth. The paintings are inspired by prehistoric cave art depicting hybrid human/animal beings that experienced existence as an interconnected web of life swirling in an eternal dance of matter and spirit. Another influence on the work is Dutch vanitas painting where flora and fauna are strikingly executed and interplay with objects and people of daily life. Dutch artists of the 16th and 17th centuries were realistically and sensuously depicting organic and decaying matter such as animals, skulls, bones, food, and flowers on canvas, employing the juxtaposition of beauty and death to suggest spiritual messages about mortality and the transience of life.

Working with archetypal images culled from nature, myth, art history and my own personal experiences and memories, a montage of colorful visual impressions emerges, forming new narratives celebrating life’s complexity and diversity, and also its unifying beauty. Study of the methods and materials of master painters informs my practice, working with rich oil pigments and using glazing to create a sense of depth or inter-dimensionality. Intuitive mark making and sweeping use of color enter the picture, infusing energy. I usually begin a painting with an idea of what I want to express, but inevitably fresh aspects come into play – thoughts, associations, feelings and impressions – that make their way in. Through the paint, I explore these forces working both on, and beneath, the surface. There’s a place I arrive where the paint is processing for me; things start to take shape and come into form that I had never anticipated. I go with this flow and am always surprised by how the process of painting, itself, seems to know more about what wants to be expressed than my own conscious intent.

~ Adrienne Beth Jenkins

Artist’s Bio

Adrienne Beth Jenkins is a visual artist and arts project consultant with twentyfive years of professional experience working in arts administration and cultural policy/arts advocacy as an executive leader, university faculty member and independent consultant. Her paintings are in private collections and have been exhibited at Philadelphia regional galleries and non-profit spaces since 2009. An advocate for animals and the natural environment, Adrienne also writes and lectures about themes in her art such as sustainable ecology, human/animal kinship, and the archetypal feminine. Drawing and painting since childhood, Adrienne pursued artistic training in high school and college and continued taking studio courses and workshops while working full-time. In 2014, she completed a six-week studio residency and critique program at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.

Travel directions to Pendle Hill. Click to view the flyer. Visit the artist’s website at www.abjenkins.com.