ARTIST STATEMENT
BEGINNINGS & JESSELISM
THE MYSTERY OF MY HISTORY
Shania Twain and I were born in the same town in Northern Ontario, Canada. Watching a special on her life I was moved by the photos of Timmins and the huge snow drifts on the side of the road. It brought back memories of my childhood filled with hours of a life delving deep into my imagination. Winters (with temperatures as low as 50 below 0) were from September to sometimes June so without any devices and distractions a child had to create the world they wanted to live in. My world was an enchanted land of Music, Dance and Art.
There was a stillness in the small town night skies. Almost every evening after dinner I would go outside and lie back in the snow and gaze at the miracle of the Northern Lights. The tranquility transformed and transported me. Like a cosmic comet, I flew into outer space and drifted among imaginary planets. Out there I would look back and view our world and wonder. Wonder how it all worked.
My entrance to Abstract Expressionism (and Jesselism) began in 1984 when I opened the French door of my gallery at 1019 Atlas Peak Road. I had spent most of my artistic life focused on faces and had my first One Person Show of Bay Area Personalities at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. I met and painted 25 enormously well-known souls including Maya Angelou, Dianne Feinstein and Herb Caen.
My fascination with faces came from the fact that I was an extremely shy child. I communicated with others by drawing or painting them.
The residue that resonated for me after the Museum show was the fact that I needed to step out of other people's eyes and open up to the rest of what the world had to offer.
The first thing I painted when I moved into my building was a 40"x 60" abstract watercolor called Indian Dreams. It hangs in my bedroom and reminds me daily to Float!
Fast Forward to a full circle moment. My recent show is called "Abstraction from Bright to Light." I believe my greatest strength as an artist is my ability to blend and harmonize color. There is a fine balance when there are no recognizable characteristics on a canvas. I watch as folks walk right through the room of my recent work and move to identifiable content.
Some find the work unfamiliar and need to see something real reflected back at them.
And then there are those who identify, recognize and live in this world with me. What a joy to share this planet with them. Having room to roam and bathe in a blissful kaleidoscope of color harkens me back to that brilliance and wonder of the Northern Lights.
No matter where anyone lands in my gallery, the work I do is a journey that stared 73 years ago in my hidden haven.
Every day I wake excited to see what story I can tell and share from my HeART.
There was a stillness in the small town night skies. Almost every evening after dinner I would go outside and lie back in the snow and gaze at the miracle of the Northern Lights. The tranquility transformed and transported me. Like a cosmic comet, I flew into outer space and drifted among imaginary planets. Out there I would look back and view our world and wonder. Wonder how it all worked.
My entrance to Abstract Expressionism (and Jesselism) began in 1984 when I opened the French door of my gallery at 1019 Atlas Peak Road. I had spent most of my artistic life focused on faces and had my first One Person Show of Bay Area Personalities at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. I met and painted 25 enormously well-known souls including Maya Angelou, Dianne Feinstein and Herb Caen.
My fascination with faces came from the fact that I was an extremely shy child. I communicated with others by drawing or painting them.
The residue that resonated for me after the Museum show was the fact that I needed to step out of other people's eyes and open up to the rest of what the world had to offer.
The first thing I painted when I moved into my building was a 40"x 60" abstract watercolor called Indian Dreams. It hangs in my bedroom and reminds me daily to Float!
Fast Forward to a full circle moment. My recent show is called "Abstraction from Bright to Light." I believe my greatest strength as an artist is my ability to blend and harmonize color. There is a fine balance when there are no recognizable characteristics on a canvas. I watch as folks walk right through the room of my recent work and move to identifiable content.
Some find the work unfamiliar and need to see something real reflected back at them.
And then there are those who identify, recognize and live in this world with me. What a joy to share this planet with them. Having room to roam and bathe in a blissful kaleidoscope of color harkens me back to that brilliance and wonder of the Northern Lights.
No matter where anyone lands in my gallery, the work I do is a journey that stared 73 years ago in my hidden haven.
Every day I wake excited to see what story I can tell and share from my HeART.
JESSELISMJessel Miller has taken a turn in her artistic expression. She began her professional career in 1971 after graduating from the University of Florida with a Bachelors Degree in Fine Art.
Moving to California in the early 70s, she started as a fashion illustrator to make ends meet and gradually supported her fine art career as a graphic artist. She considered herself a realist and loved portraiture and began to focus on faces. Jessel did strictly faces for 15 years and developed a rich, unique style in watercolors. |
Her shy personality blossomed as she met and painted famous faces for her first major show at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 1980. Melvin Belli, Diane Feinstein, Maya Angelou were just 3 of the 25 personalities she met and painted for this exhibition. In 1985 Jessel moved to the Napa Valley and opened the Jessel Gallery in an historic 100 year old building. The gallery grew from 300 sq. ft. to 7000 sq. ft. over the next 35 years and Jessel dedicated herself to supporting artists from around the country. Today the Jessel Gallery is known as a cultural community center.
In December 2019, Jessel took a dramatic turn in her artistic career. Although she painted throughout the 35 years building her business, her art took a backseat to the other artists in the gallery, as well as the classes she taught weekly. In her words "I loved every minute of creating and developing the gallery and never looked at it as depriving me of my art. It was never work for me."
A light bulb moment occurred just before the opening of her Holiday Show in December 2019. One of her glass artists was doing her display and Jessel saw 2 empty spaces on the wall and asked Patti Wessman if she could do 2 pieces that might enhance the space. The artist agreed and Jessel popped out 2 abstract colorful images that reflected the colors Patti had in her glass wall hangings. That moment turned Jessel's life around. The flood gates opened and suddenly Jessel began painting in acrylics like a mad woman.
The new work began as abstraction and slowly through what Jessel called "guided information" the pieces swerved and swayed to what she now calls: "Jesselism" She feels the best way to describe it is realism combined with abstract expressionism and guided inspirations. Jessel had done a few pieces 40 years ago in watercolor, yet she dismissed it because she felt people would not understand the work . Soulful Voices came to Jessel as a concept for her next book. Jessel has written, illustrated and published 6 "read aloud books for children and adults" over the past 20 years. This new book is devoted to the concept of saving the planet and many of the images are pleas and prayers from the children to respect the earth and save the creatures and man/woman/children/humankind. In March 2020 the world was hit with a Pandemic called Covid 19 and suddenly Jessel realized that messages and guided voices had led her to this new work. She thought the book, Soulful Voices, was what this current work was about, yet it was much bigger than this sweet story. She was "being guided" as she put it, to paint the current events with love, passion, hope and inspirational truth.
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In the first beginning of "Jesselism" the images were small and colorful with hints of figures and angels.
On January 26, 2020 Jessel was overwhelmed with sorrow over the death of someone she did not know, yet was moved to paint- Kobe Bryant and his young daughter Gianna.
She woke at 4am and felt a power forcing her down into her studio saying paint this man and his daughter. Jessel knew nothing about this man, yet the thought of him leaving the planet with his child moved her to tears and she painted the piece throughout the night. This was a pivotal moment. She felt as if her years devoted to the faces of the world had come full circle. She began to incorporate more realistic faces into the mix of abstraction and form. |
Suddenly, with her business closed for the first time in 35 years, Jessel had time to paint every day, all day and the work flew off the end of her brush literally shooting through her. There is a vibration and excitement of color and concept in the new paintings that Jessel feels is some of her best work.
From simple landscapes to drifting abstract forms, "Jesselism" is immersed in emotional subject matter wrapped in splashes of brilliant color and conversation.
From simple landscapes to drifting abstract forms, "Jesselism" is immersed in emotional subject matter wrapped in splashes of brilliant color and conversation.
Jessel & Gary Miller 2022, Photo Credit: Frank Gutierrez