Show Preview | Jamie Kirkland - Southwest Art Magazine

Santa Fe, NM
Winterowd Fine Art, June 3-16

Jamie Kirkland, Bosque Evening, oil, 30 x 72.

This story was featured in the June 2016 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art June 2016 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.

Winterowd Fine Art mounts an exhibition of new paintings by Jamie Kirkland this month, featuring the artist’s serene, effervescent landscapes. Titled Looking and Listening, the collection features the large trees and vast skies that surround Kirkland’s Santa Fe home. “I realized that I am drawn to painting these trees because I am putting down deep roots into my community,” says Kirkland. “I love the feeling of being embraced by these giant beauties with their shade and subtle shifts of greens, lavenders, and blues. At the other end of the spectrum, I am also creating large-scale works to convey the expansive sense of space when looking at our skies here in New Mexico.”

The show opens on Friday, June 3, with a reception for the artist from 5 to 7 p.m., and runs until June 16. Kirkland presents 12 new oil paintings in various sizes, up to 6 feet wide. Gallery director Rosanne Kadis remarks, “What is completely special about Jamie’s paintings is that she creates a depth and breadth that allow the viewer to come into the painting, regardless of its size or scale. I love the ability to just step into her landscapes.”

Jamie Kirkland, Spring Green I, oil, 20 x 20.

Kirkland works primarily in the studio, often from memory. She strives to simplify the landscape by reducing her subject matter down to its most elemental aspects. Her compositions remain painterly, however, and contain an ensemble of hues, which are applied in multiple layers to produce placid, sumptuous atmospheres. Ultimately, the paintings emit what Kadis calls an “ethereal glow.”

Kirkland considers her artwork a reflection of her life’s journey. In this vein, the trees and skies that populate these canvases embody the quiet peace she has found both in her environment and in her art-making. “I am spending more time listening to where the work wants to take me,” says the artist of her creative process. She has developed a penchant for “listening” to her paintings to connect with them on a deeper level. She explains, “I don’t want to plan out the painting. I don’t want to know what happens next. I just want to go there and experience it.” —Elizabeth L. Delaney

contact information
505.992.8878
www.fineartsantafe.com

Featured in the June 2016 issue of Southwest Art magazine. Get the Southwest Art June 2016 print issue or digital download now–then subscribe to Southwest Art and never miss another story.