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The Process Informs Me:
The Creative Expression and Artistry of Jeanette Luchese An Essay by Ted Fullerton Creativity and the creative process, that exists as both intuitive and acquired, is an enigmatic entity. For the artist acquired and intuitive knowledge can exist in unison or at odds with each other allowing a dialogue or conversation of creative significance. Intuitive knowledge is sourced from an instinctive and penetrating time held experience while obtained without recourse to conscious reasoning or need of an explanation. Acquired knowledge, that is both cognitive and skill based, is founded and resourced within a relative timeline, a learned and applied ideal or skill. Immanuel Kant Intuition without ideas are blind, and ideas without intuition are empty. I have observed Jeanette Luchese for many years as a passionate creative individual and artist. Her strong sense of design, based upon years as a graphic designer, and her engagement and dedication as a visual artist, fused with a fervent commitment of self expression, is a merging of acquired and intuitive visual depth. Whether she is working in drawing, painting, printmaking or sculpture her creative expression is guided by a profound visual understanding while allowing herself to be consumed by the arresting and intuitive guide of process. A passion to express an idea informs her while she instinctively is guided by materials and their application resulting in a visual “abstract” of a heartfelt and deeply personal narrative that can be shared with anyone who chooses to engage. Her passion and interest with materials is undaunted, perhaps fuelled by her Italian roots and its time held history? She refuses not to be “side lined” by an unknown and “jumps in” with both feet - sink or swim - always staying “afloat” - quickly moving to a significant and confident “stroke”. I have, on the odd occasion, witnessed Jeanette fully engaged within the creative process. With a distinctive idea or “vision” that she wants to express she “goes within herself” were she “becomes” with materials, process, concept and idea - a single creative force tempered by “seasoned” skill and a knowledge foundation while allowing intuition to surface from the unconscious to inform her. Jeanette’s visual expression traverses from abstraction to and from “snippets” of emotive representative experiences fuelled by the significance of colour and expressive gestures that move towards a symbolic interpretation. How we choose to look at her work is how we perceive it “to be”. That is clearly indicated and understood by her and expressed within her artist statement: A practice rooted in materiality and emotions driven by an interest in the deception in perception: the contrast between what “is seen” and what is understood. Within her most recent sojourn into the time held art form of traditional historical fresco techniques, she brings a contemporary lens of abstraction. Having been “enlightened” from two relatively recent trips to Italy she states; finding a new footing/foundation within my heritage and culture - a forever memory of standing within the Chapel of Giotto frescos in Padua in 2019. It is clear that “connecting” with her Italian heritage as a first generation Italian Canadian is significant as a sensory gathering and bond with an aspect of a “cultural tradition”. Having experienced and seen how this medium - fresco’s - respond within the “Italian light” she is intent and driven on capturing a contemporary expression of a time held medium within the “Canadian light” to be “enlightened” anew with the merging of the present with the past. What stands out to me is how Jeanette is able to maintain a visual expressive statement of “immediacy” with a medium that requires a certain amount of application “restraint”. The process requires pigment to be mixed with room temperature water and is applied on a thin layer of wet, fresh plaster. Because of the chemical makeup of the plaster, a binder is not required, as the pigment mixed solely with the water will sink into the wet plaster which in turn becomes the medium holding the pigment. As indicated, it is a medium that somewhat defies, “expressive immediacy”. However, Jeanette is able to overcome this tedious process where her passionate and expressive method of working, that is both intuitive and “acquired” results in a unique and personal visual expression, matched only by her paintings, were image and medium are aligned and experienced “anew”. Within Jeanette’s artist statement she professes, “In the perfect here and the complete now, I respond to life, to living”. It is without question that Jeanette adheres to her own declaration of living and expressing that experience in a unique, visceral, visual statement while the process - of life and the breadth of creative expression - informs her. |
Exhibition Remarks
I am beyond thrilled to share this body of work with you, a new beginning inspired by life and historical frescos. The title, coined by Ted Fullerton ... The Process Informs Me is an accurate summation of my art practice ... Every aspect of this exhibition speaks to capturing the joy of exploring an uncharted process, transformation, identity, authenticity, and resilience while finding new footing and foundation in my life and art practice through my heritage and culture. But how did I get here? In reflection, I find there are two distinct happenings that germinated this crazed adventure. First, a trip to Italy in 2013 with my sister Maria to meet family we never knew we had. What we learnt created a lot of questions about my heritage, heredity, culture and nationality. Then, in 2019, another trip to Italy, a master class with OCADU to their Florence Studios and a trip to the Venice Biennale, but the stop in Padua sewed the seeds and inspired this new direction. Although I had previously seen frescos in person, when I visited the Scrovegni's Chapel, walking into that space was surreal; it was wall-to-wall, wall-to-ceiling frescoes, and every inch of the room was painted. I was mesmerized; a thousand questions ran through my mind, and the colours vibrated as I breathed in the scent of history from the 13-century fresco created by Giotto di Bondone — Giotto, noted as the most important painter of the 14th century: You will find his use of pinks, blues, greys and yellow ochres pigments reflected in these works. Fresco (Italian for fresh) is the oldest known painting medium. The small 8" x 8" works are in the buon fresco technique; it is a method of painting with natural pigments on freshly applied aged lime plaster, sand mixture. In all these pieces, the plaster's chemical makeup acts like a binder, with the natural pigments reacting with the air in a carbonatation process, fixing the pigment particles at the plaster's surface in a protective crystalline mesh known as the lime crust. It is a challenging and tedious process that's success is all about the plaster. Although not typical, I chose to seal pieces with Savon de Marseilles and beeswax to help ensure the life of these works, after all, they do not have the security of a 'wall' to support them: I do love the medium of fresco despite the extraordinary demands. I am prone to experimentation and feel most comfortable in the beautiful chaos of abstraction. Working with this ancient process to create unique Contemporary Abstract Fresco paintings was exhilarating. I hope you enjoy these works and would be happy to speak with you if you have any questions. I want to take this time to thank Ted Fullerton for the beautiful essay he wrote on my behalf. It is truly a gift; please take the time to read it, and thank you Bernice Vasely; for the custom-made panels for extra strength due to plaster concerns. Petra Hewson saved the day by supplying and installing all the D-rings, and Billi Dawn, all the packing help and delivered all the work on time and Susan Hickling for all her support. A special thank you to Barry Affleck for sharing his immense knowledge of lime plaster, the process, and his kind support. To those that made this possible ...The amazing artist, curator Tanya Cunnington, thank you so much for your patience, kind, mindful ways of allowing me the space and stress-free additional time, your understanding, skill with words, support, and the fantastic way you brought my work to life through this installation. Last but not least, Ninette Gyorody, thank you for believing in me for what must have seemed insane — Abstract Contemporary Frescos. ——————————-- And a wonderful surprise that family always brings ... my lovey nieces, nephews, and grandnieces (family) and my son, Joshua, who came all the way from Ottawa, I was so grateful they where here with me. |
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