May 2013

New Bern ArtWorks Fine Arts Gallery in New Bern, NC, Features Works by Jill Eberle

New Bern ArtWorks Fine Arts Gallery in New Bern, NC, will present Imaginings, featuring works by Jill Eberle, on view from May 10 through June 30, 2013. A reception will be held on May 10, from 5-8pm.

Children draw the darndest things. What might lie within their deceptively simple depictions? Local artist Jill Eberle has vividly brought to life drawings of monsters created by children in a new series of paintings. In fall 2012 Eberle asked Melissa Giglio, then the art teacher at Arapahoe Charter School, to have her first grade students each draw a monster. Eberle then made a careful tracing of the child’s drawing and interpreted it as a 3-dimensional realistic creature in an environment. Each piece uses classic oil painting techniques and some include imagery from well-known historical art works. The results are captivating creatures – cute, scary, charming or just odd – that glimpse into the minds of both the children and the artist. The child’s drawing is displayed along with the painting it inspired which encourages a delightful game of comparison.

“The kids drawings are full of imagination,” says Eberle. “As I began developing the tracings, they suddenly appeared rich with character and strong emotions. Creating these paintings has tapped into my own early memories and challenged my representational painting skills as I try to create a logical anatomy and scenario for each creature. It’s a departure from my usual work and it’s been pure fun.”

Raised in a beach town in southern Connecticut, Eberle began modeling for noted artist and teacher Robert Brackman as a teenager. Like many others on a journey in the arts, Eberle found herself engaged in a remarkable number of occupations including illustrator, prop builder, architectural draftsman, counselor and sailmaker. Over decade of work in New York City was followed by a six-year stint in the Caribbean living on a sailboat. While there, she began using the skills gathered over the years to start painting. 

Eventually returning to the United States and settling in North Carolina, Eberle attended East Carolina University where she earned her MFA in 2003. The university hired her upon graduation. Eberle has taught drawing, painting, illustration and artistic anatomy at ECU since 2003. In addition, this summer she will be teaching at Penland School of Crafts.

Eberle maintains in a studio above New Bern Artworks and exhibits her work throughout the region. Venues for recent solo and small group shows include the Imperial Centre in Rocky Mount, Greenville Museum of Art, Theatre Art Gallery in High Point and the Green Hill Center for NC Art in Greensboro, NC. She would like to acknowledge Dave Devries’ Monster Engine as the impetus for this idea.

For further information check our NC Commercial Gallery listings, call the gallery at 252/634-9002 or visit (www.newbernartworks.com).

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