Jean Kiegerl

Jean Kiegirl

Biography

I am a local artist in Merritt, BC and have been active here for years in many community projects involving art and literacy.

My first art love was sketching and watercolour, but I experimented with acrylic and collage also. I continue with those media, but now find my joy and creativity in oil painting.
 
I have explored various aspects of the art experience. I experimented with art as a business by creating “Palette and Ink Arts Company” and was a member of Creative Company, a co-operative store in Merritt, for three years. I enjoyed marketing my watercolours, prints and cards. I was accepted as an “Active Artist” member of the Federation of Canadian Artists and could exhibit in regional art shows.

However, I found that a home-based business meant full time promotion and accounting, with little time left for painting. Finally, I heeded my brother’s warning – “Don’t turn your play into work!” and returned to ‘just painting.’  Now I have relaxed into painting from my many photos and show my work locally. I occasionally paint commissions and requests to explore a wider range of subjects.
 
Learning to use different media and techniques keeps me intrigued with art. Art galleries are always at the top of my list when traveling. There are endless possibilities for learning new aspects. I worked with Kamloops painter, Yvonne Reddick, to learn the glazing style of the Renaissance artists. I have also taken workshops from David Langevin and Gaye Adams to understand paint chemistry and colour theory.

 
My art has provided fundraising opportunities for community groups and service clubs. To encourage my fellow artists, I sponsored the art magazine subscriptions at the local public library for many years and that is now an Arts Council program. I spend my volunteer time with the Nicola Valley Community Arts Council (now as Past President) to create ever more opportunities to share knowledge and promote the arts.  I volunteer with their Gallery and teach art classes to encourage new artists and expand art opportunities here. Art has enriched my life in so many ways.

Jean Kiegerl

Artist Statement

Painting for the Love of It

“Does it express an attitude, an opinion, a concern, a joke, a viewpoint?

It is the concept that keeps my interest

for the weeks needed to complete a painting.”

I was hooked the first time I sketched my hand in an adult art class. It was a revelation that something so simple opened a whole new world of experience. Everything suddenly had edges and such beautiful shapes. Shading those sketches meant noticing the full range of light and dark on everything in sight. Then I added paint to my sketches and discovered there were actually thousands of colours.  Well, who would have guessed just seeing could be so complex?

I paint because I want to explore what I see. I actively and intently see because I want to be able to paint. It is the everlasting challenge to figure out how to express my vision and give that image the meaning to others that it has for me. As I add skills and new media to my practice, I have a wider range of possibilities. Which medium would work? What colours are needed? What style and techniques match my intent?   What to emphasize and what is the background to support the intent?

Sometimes my paintings are simply about the physical appearance of the topic, but more often now it is the concept or philosophy that I want the painting to show. “Concept” is becoming more interesting to me than subject matter. Rather than just reproducing a photo in paint, there can be a meaning beyond simple appearance. Does it express an attitude, an opinion, a concern, a joke, a viewpoint? It is the concept that keeps my interest for the weeks needed to complete a painting. The increasing complexity of my painting keeps me enthralled. That focus then reflects back into my sketches, watercolours and acrylics, and ultimately into how I pay attention to seeing.

A sunset is never ‘just another sunset’ any more.