Jill Feenstra, Beautiful Bizarre Artist Directory member provides some fascinating insights into her practice and experience as surrealist painter, as she responds to the questions below:
- Art is a visual language, what are you hoping to communicate to the viewer through your work?
- You have a very distinctive style, what drew you to working with this medium?
- Did you do any formal study in the arts? Did you find it helpful or a hindrance?
- Who is your biggest art throb and why?
Art is a visual language, what are you hoping to communicate to the viewer through your work?
Speaking through images, I’m trying to relate the feeling of loss without defeat. I’m not sure how people interpret my work, but a touch stone I use is heartbreak. My prerogative is that the point of living is to love fully, and that means your heart will break over and over again, and I want to honor the lonely difficult moments, in tender gentle ways.
You have a very distinctive style, what drew you to working with this medium?
First of all, thank you. The medium I prefer over everything is craft acrylic. I learned how to paint with oils, and I do love oil painting. However, in community college I took a painting class, and the professor said that real artists only use oil, and she was kind of mean to the students who chose to use acrylic, so I decided I was going to use finger paint for all my assignments. That experience led me to fall in love with tempura, and I used it for years and even had a big solo show in Seattle, all with tempura. Everything was great until my favorite brand was discontinued. Since then I’ve found craft quality acrylic to be an excellent alternative, and in the decade since my affection for it has only grown. I enjoy the flexibility as I don’t sketch out my paintings before I start working. The delicate process of building up many thin layers, and the satisfaction I get in a smooth vibrant finish.
Did you do any formal study in the arts? Did you find it helpful or a hindrance?
That’s such a good question! I would say that 90% of my formal education was my highschool art teacher Mike Holz. My senior year I had three art periods a day with him, and I got to really explore new mediums and learn about different art styles, Mr. Holz taught me how to stretch and gesso a canvas and many other techniques I still use today. In community college, I learned how to do chine colle and monotype prints. Art school was never in the cards for me, even though I desperately wanted that experience. I started showing my art when I was 18, driving around with paintings in the trunk of my car. Before digital cameras and social media, no one would see your work unless you either brought it to them, or could afford to have it professionally photographed and have slides or prints made, which I did not. Now in my mid 40’s I still think it’s funny when I’m helping art students with what might be their first art show, and answer all kinds of questions they have. I don’t know what I would have learned in art school, but I’m pretty happy with the drive and determination I cultivated on my own. I suppose I missed out learning how to properly speak of my work.
Who is your biggest art throb and why?
I have a few art idols that always stop me in my tracks. Thomas Blackshear for how he masters warmth, Emilia Cantor and the way she says so much with stark silhouettes, Edward Povey and his unreal realism and beautiful poetry, Pat McGrath and the way she effortlessly reinvents the face, Michael Hussar and the visceral way he uses light and texture, And Maxfield Parrish for vibrant fantasy escapes.
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