PortfolioExhibitions – MatriArt Selections

Paintings for MatriArt (2002)

Icons rendered in acrylic mediums to satisfy the need for speed exacted by Masters program faculty. These are interesting in content, but necessarily lack the rich depth of surface enjoyed in Jan’s previous icons rendered in egg tempera.

  • Expecting the Worst Acrylic on wooden panel In raising teens, it doesn’t matter what you do, how many books you read, or how many counselors you consult. All you can do is anticipate the next wallop.

  • Parenting Acrylic on wooden panel Like the practices of psychology and medicine, parenting is just a game of sustained observation and good guessing.

  • Metamorphose Acrylic on wooden panel My daughter will need to be the one to act, freeing herself from the peer-manipulated strings that bind her.

  • Shepherdess Acrylic on wooden panel When my daughter becomes and inner city school teacher, I apprehend the difficulties she will encounter. I pray that she will be protected and be strong for those she is there to lead.

  • Pigs and Pearls Acrylic on wooden panel We issue to our children a never-ending flood of good advice and warnings, well aware that they generally resent our input.

  • The Door is Open – Painting Acrylic on wooden panel The parakeet in its charming little cage is an apt symbol for the housewife contained by her house, and her role. You can teach the bird to repeat that they are free to go (the border of the egg tempera painting repeats the words “The Door is Open” but there is a disconnect that does not allow escape. Whether for fear or comfort, caged is caged.

  • The Door is Open - Installation in birdcage, acrylic on wooden panel The parakeet in its charming little cage is an apt symbol for the housewife contained by her house, and her role. You can teach the bird to repeat that they are free to go (the border of the egg tempera painting repeats the words “The Door is Open” but there is a disconnect that does not allow escape. Whether for fear or comfort, caged is caged.

  • Madonna and Chimp Altarpiece This painting on a mirror is a trinity of sorts. The madonna stands in for all mothers, the chimp for all kids, and the small circular mirror, for the viewer who is included in the trio, entreated to remember their own path of evolution to maturity. Around the furcovered mirror frame are interlacing monkey tails (chimps already have lost their tails, so there is hope for continuing change towards civilized behavior!) On the banderole behind the peeled banana votives is embroidered, “Bless Our Children – May They Evolve.”

  • This painting on a mirror is a trinity of sorts. The madonna stands in for all mothers, the chimp for all kids, and the small circular mirror, for the viewer who is included in the trio, entreated to remember their own path of evolution to maturity. Around the furcovered mirror frame are interlacing monkey tails (chimps already have lost their tails, so there is hope for continuing change towards civilized behavior!) On the banderole behind the peeled banana votives is embroidered, “Bless Our Children – May They Evolve.”