Where are you from originally and where do you live now?
I am originally from Birmingham, Michigan and now live in Charlotte, NC.
How did this series come about?
I wanted to explore the theme of narrative illustration. I organized inanimate and organic objects into compositions that could tell a story. I was influenced by the book Arranging Things, A Rhetoric of Object Placement. It's author, Leonard Koren, investigates the selection and placement of objects in a composition and then applies unusual methods for determining the content and meaning of each composition. Like the paintings in Leonard's book each of my paintings is composed of a seemingly non-sensical arrangement of objects. It was not until I finished the series that I loosely connected and titled the paintings to a lesson learned from Aesop's fables.
How long have you been collecting the figurines that appear in your paintings?
MANY years. I love traipsing through flea markets and antique shows in search of small treasures. I am especially attracted to objects with a touch of sentiment and a tinge of kitsch.
What is it about these objects that makes you want to take them home... and paint them?
These objects summon a sweet and naive sentiment. They carry a well worn history that one can only imagine. I decided to paint them because I wanted to 'enliven' the objects; to give them another story to tell.
When not in your studio, where else would we find you?
I am an adjunct professor in the fine and applied arts so I stay quite busy with my teaching schedule. You also might find me working in my garden or on the other side of a glass of wine.
A recent painting by the artist.
Are you working on any other interesting projects?
I am always experimenting with various painting styles. I just finished a series of large horse paintings for a gallery in Tennessee. I hope to introduce a new object series in time for the holidays that has nostalgic items from Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Jane Schmidt's website.
“I don’t recall thkniing consciously about all these things at the time.”I think you have to let intuition and instinct guide you when creating a painting.. if you think too much about this stuff I doubt your work would be as sucessful.Interesting nonetheless.