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April Issue 2008
Artists' Guild of Spartanburg in Spartanburg,
SC, Features Works by Jill Jones and Suzanne Zoole
Sacred Spaces, a mixed media exhibit featuring the work of Jill Jones and Suzanne Zoole, will be featured in the Artists' Guild of Spartanburg Gallery located in the Chapman Cultural Center in Spartanburg, SC. The exhibit will be on view from Apr. 4 - 30, 2008.
While a sense of the spiritual fuels both artists, they work from markedly different perspectives. Jones is a Unitarian Universalist; Zoole is an Episcopalian. In Sacred Spaces, the two Spartanburg artists and friends explore how their spiritual journeys overlap, and what constitutes "sacred space" for each.
For Jones, the theme is metaphorical. She describes her oil landscapes as icons for her spirituality: places that are drawn not only from memory and imagination, but from her concept of the divine. "Nature represents the only face of God that I understand," she says. While the Spartanburg artist was raised in the Christian tradition, she has come to embrace aspects of other world religions, as well - particularly Buddhism.
In keeping with this, Jones uses a simplified language of color and form. "I prefer to err on the side of simplicity, of not explaining too much to the viewer," Jones says of her paintings. "Too much information and the mystery is spoiled. That's why I paint from memory. It helps me edit extraneous details and focus on shape and shadow, mood and feeling - the elements of landscape painting I like most."
Featuring a grayed-down palette of greens, blues and violets, the landscapes are dark and moody, with something of an existential quality.
By contrast, Suzanne Zoole expresses the idea of "sacred space" through a series of acrylic paintings of interiors she calls "House Blessings". The title refers to an Episcopal custom of inviting the local priest to a new home for the purpose of offering a blessing for each room. It is with these simple prayers in mind that she painted each room. "Even without the ceremony of a house blessing, so many of the intentions within the walls of our homes can be called sacred," she explains.
Zoole also will be exhibiting what she describes as "pocket shrines" - intimate objects of personal devotion that grew out of her interest in icons and retablos, or home altars. The artist begins with tiny, recycled boxes which she embellishes with paint, collage and everything from shells, gold thread and beads to bits of text. Tucked inside some of the boxes are sacred images - tiny icons that are copies of Gothic and Renaissance images. Zoole describes the shrines as incorporating touches of Byzantine decoration but otherwise being of "no particular style". She sees them, instead, as a mix of everyday objects that come together to form tangible, portable aids to prayer. 'The notion is that the recycled box could be handily placed in a shirt or skirt pocket and at a moment's notice be brought out for a moment of devotion and a reminder of spiritual connections," Zoole says.
For further information check our SC Institutional
Gallery listings or call the gallery at 864/764-9568.
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