Statement

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 new body of work captures 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. Immersed in abstraction, this new body of work marks a departure from my current painting practice. These works are created using Italian slaked lime putty, sand, marble plaster and natural earth pigments, paralleling the 14th/16th Century traditional wet on wet Italian Buon Fresco painting process. The abstracted expressions are absorbed into the medium as the wet earth pigments infuse into the layered wet lime plaster, bonding, causing a chemical reaction when dry, resulting in a crystalline surface that appears illuminated due to the lime particles responding to light, making the work come alive within its own depth that holds its essence. ​​Working with this ancient process, creating what I consider Contemporary Abstract Frescoes is exhilarating.
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But how did I get here? In reflection, two distinct happenings germinated this crazed adventure. First, a trip to Italy in 2013 to meet family I never knew I had. What I learnt created a lot of questions about heritage, heredity, culture and nationality. Then, in 2019, another trip to Italy: a master class with OCADU Toronto to their Florence Studios with a trip to the Venice Biennale. However, the stop in Padua sewed the seeds that cemented 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 my new works. Fresco (Italian for fresh) is the oldest known painting medium.  I do love the medium of fresco despite the extraordinary challenges and demands. I am prone to experimentation and feel most comfortable in the beautiful chaos of abstraction. 
​Mine is an art practice of seeking and learning within an experimental space of inclusion immersed in abstraction, a visual artist whose practice explores and pushes the boundaries of colour, line form, space and time in two and three dimensions. Core philosophies 'As above, so below - so within, so without' dictate a desire to support sameness and equality. The continuous line is the thread that binds and grounds my art practice as I tend to cross-pollinate disciplines. My practice is a journey of self-discovery rooted in the art materials that I use and my emotions. It is informed by the process, driven by questions of identity, purpose, and fate and interest in the deception of perception: the contrast between what is seen/known to what is understood.
Absorbed by experimentation, I create within a simple, spontaneous process that gambles on each mark and meandering gestures, triggering pattern-seeking and meaning within the randomness. The marks and gestures reveal inner landscapes affected by outward happenings resonating beyond itself, transforming the unknown visible, similar and different. Each piece comes in and out of focus in a balancing act that blurs and questions as I capture beyond the limited forward view from the peripheral far frayed edge where the magic happens. Lifting the veil uncovers the layers that connect us with a broader brush within the vibrational energy that governs this great entanglement. 

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Bio

Jeanette Luchese is a First Generation Italian Canadian settler, visual artist, educator, director and curator rooted in design arts, creating in the disciplines of drawing, painting, printmaking, painting, sculpture and sound. She is an honour graduate of the School of Design and Visual Art at Georgian College in Barrie and the Sheridan College School of Design in Oakville. She has exhibited Internationally at the Palazzo dell’Annunziata, Matera Italy: Fondacione Opera Campana-Dei-Caduti, Rovereto, Italy and regionally at the MacLaren Art Centre, Barrie, ON; Quest Art School + Gallery, Midland, ON; Orillia Museum of Art & History, Orillia, ON; and Campus Gallery, Georgian College, Barrie, ON to name a few. Jeanette resides in Innisfil, ON.

additional insights

Odd childhood happenings awakened a curiosity questioning my understanding of the norm? Played in my Grandparent's orchard, under a canopy of fruit trees bearing two to three different fruits in each tree, climbing to pick pears and finding plums with a branch of apples nearby; it is not surprising I have an interest in cross-pollinating disciplines. Although realizing I was not in Italy when I first attended school was a surprise that took years to sort out and laid the foundation of distrust introducing the reality of illusion, visual deception in perception, alternate possibilities that exist beyond our limited view lifting the veil uncovers the layers that connect us with a broader scope within the vibrational energy that governs this great entanglement. Life is a beautiful ride.​

expanded bio

​Jeanette Luchese is an Italian - Canadian settler, visual artist, designer, educator, director, curator, rooted in abstraction creates within drawing, painting, printmaking, painting, sculptures and sound. Graduate of School of Design and Visual Art, Georgian College (Barrie) and Sheridan College School of Design (Oakville) , furthering studies to include: 2019 Florence, Italy, OCADU's Summer Studio Master Class [June] with Nicole Collins and Anda Kubis. Resides in Innisfil, Ontario Canada. Exhibiting Internationally and regionally at numerous public galleries including the macLaren Art Centre (Barrie), Quest Art Gallery (Midland), Orillia Museum of Arts & History (Orillia) and Campus Gallery, (Barrie). A grant recipient of the Ontario Art Council and the City of Barrie Culture Department, with numerous awards.​ Recipient of the 2014 "Great Visual Arts Golden Eagle Trophy - Award of Honour, Salerno, Italy and 2015 the Kandinsky Award of Creativity, Salerno, Italy. Published in Abstract | Ext, A first approximation to abstract literature¹ by David Quiles Guilló: 'Gone Once,' page 76  (April 2015 ­ 45 authors. Printed in Spain). Short Listed for the 2015 Gwendolyn MacEwen Exile Poetry Competition 'From there to here,' published in ELQ Exile: The Literary Quarterly July Edition 2016. Ending 2018 with The Focus and the Fray, a regional public gallery solo exhibition held at Campus Gallery, curators Sarah Elizebeth Leonard and Cory Van der Vliet - The Helen and Arch Brown Centre, Georgian College Barrie, Canada and honoured to of created the 2018 Barrie Art Awards Sculptures (statuettes) Public Art:  2019 Participating in #ISDAY International Sculpture Day, Innisfil Sculpture Group partnering with Innisfil IdeaLAB,  'Sculptures in Uncommon Places" .  "What day is it? resides in Port Huron, Michigan USA: The Gathering #8.  The Verandahs Bed & Breakfast by the Lake in Oro, Ontario ​and "Easy Rider" in Barrie, Ontario, Canada — , ending the year with a solo exhibtion of experimental printmaking  "Surviving Death : Ressurecting Memories at the PRNT Collective Barrie, ON.
2020 ... then there was a pandemic.  Finding solace in the words of Alan Watts "The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance.”  which we all did, now on the other side.  
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Upcoming: 
2024 Women's Art Show ... OMAH, April 27 to July 2, 2024. Opening April 27, 1 pm. 
2024 Solo Exhibition: July 27 to  October 12, 2024 Orillia Museum of Art & History, Orillia, ON,  — Curated by Tanya Cunnington, honoured for the guided insights of Mentor, Ted Fullerton.