by Tammy Peacy
She says she isn’t chatty, but Jessica Meyers had plenty to say about art a few weeks ago at Mo’s Lounge.
Jessica is a mixed media artist who incorporates newspaper and hand written words into her paintings.
“Before I started painting I didn’t realize you could stick all kinds of stuff onto the canvas. I thought it had to be just paint.”
Jessica grew up in Waukegan but moved to Kenosha when she started high school. Why did she decide to stay after high school ended and she was a full fledged adult?
“Part of it was that I like the area. I like being by the water. Most people don’t care, but I’m a Cancer and Cancer is a water sign,” she smiles. “I just always liked being by the water.”
She went to Beloit College for creative writing until she realized that she didn’t need to go to college for creative writing. She left school after a year and a half and eventually decided to pursue a degree in graphic design. “It’s kind of like art, but you get paid for it.”
She started going to Milwaukee Institute of Art, but left after one month.
“I hated it. I still liked graphic design, even though I didn’t want to go to MIAD, so I started going to Gateway.”
Tammy: When was the first time you said, “I’m an artist”?
I was taking an abstract painting class at Lemon Street. I have a daughter and she had gotten to be six months old or so. Where I could actually get out of the house a bit more. I was like, “I need to get out and do something.” I saw the painting class and I really enjoyed it, so I took it the second time they offered it. I thought, “I kind of like this. And people don’t think I suck.”
T: Who taught the class?
T: You’re selling your work on a website? We’ll go ahead and plug that for you.
T: So, you’re also a writer?
T: What do you write?
T: What are you working on now?
Ten Words with Jessica Meyers.
I gave her thirty seconds for each word. She said, “That’s not very much, I’m not the most concise person.”
- Color- I usually use a lot of red and a lot of blue, I like to do kind of a weathered, I like to give it an aged sort of look. Like this one [artist trading card], it has an aged side I like dark colors. I don’t actually use black though. I’ve never used black aside from ink. I don’t actually own black paint. I guess a lot of people are surprised by that.
- Texture- I kind of like them to feel nice. And like for the cards and sometimes the paintings I put down a coat of Gesso or a coat of white and I just make sure it has a nice texture so it’s kind of crackled, ‘cause then you get all this nice- where the paint kind of soaks into some parts and then the other parts it totally wipes away. So you get all these different shades from putting one color on.
- Canvas- Let’s see. I prefer canvas to panels and things like that for most of my work, but I do like the cards. But with canvas you get built in texture And it kind of grabs the paint and makes it look more like you know what you’re doing. It gets all of these nice little dots of color all over the place. I like them to be a little more rough, I don’t like them to be sanded because it will catch the paint and you get all these little bits all over the place.
- Green- I like green, I just don’t paint with it much. I always liked the color green. I like malachite. I have I think two shades of green and like four or five for red and blue. I usually mix it myself if I use it.
- Brush- I like hog’s bristle brushes cause they’re a bit stiffer. They don’t get all mushy very easily, if you’re using thick paint. The best brush I have was ninety-nine cents. I got it from Michael’s. I scrub paint onto canvases with it backwards and everything.
- Art- I actually haven’t been an artist for all that long. I used to draw and I did pastels and things when I was little. I also wanted to write and illustrate my own book when I was like seven. I actually went to art school for about a month, but then I left and went to college for a year and a half for creative writing.
- Pop Culture- I use a lot of pop culture reference when I talk that I don’t think a lot of people get a lot of times. I make references to comedians I like and movies that I’ve seen and a lot of people haven’t seen those movies, so I don’t think they really get what I’m talking about.
- Recycling- I’m actually Earth friendly, but it doesn’t always work out so well. But basically part of the reason I started using newspaper is because we had all of these newspapers and I had to do something with them. I still have a bunch of newspapers laying around that I haven’t finished using.
- Paper- I use a lot of paper, usually with canvas, but even the paper (artist trading) cards have a lot of newspaper. I like a lot of the hand made papers, but those are hard to find.
- Words- I’m a big fan of words, obviously since I’m half painter, half writer. That’s part of the reason too that the words are all over the paintings. It’s like if I’m not writing I might as well write on something. It’s kind of like a diary, and people can’t read it, because then you cover over it. You can put down anything that you want and they can’t read what you said. It’s private, but it’s there. I know what it says. Nobody else does. Hopefully.
Jessica Meyers you have been “Exposed”.
You can contact Jessica through her myspace page.
You can Buy her art at www.mixeduppainter.etsy.com
Tammy Peacy finds time to write between loads of laundry in the basement of the home she shares with her husband, Steve, and their three children. Her writing has been published in AntiMuse, Chick Flicks Ezine, The Write Side Up, and Wanderings Magazine, and ExposeKenosha.com
8 comments ↓
Quiet and introspective, I’m not surprised that Jessica would be modest about her work. She, therefore, leaves it to the rest of us to tell the world that she is an absolutely fantastic ARTIST!
Lemon Street Gallery is proud to have Jessica as one of our member artists and she has contributed to the gallery. This year Jessica sat on our management council as the Exhibit Committee which hangs our quarterly member exhibits. As an artist, and she is, she is someone to watch.
You have a lot of creativity, talents and gifts. Don’t allow the difficulties and limitations imposed by society to keep you from writing short stories. It’s possible to get these to market by yourself or in collaboration with other writer’s. You could even start a new movement with artwork and artwords.
Jess is unbelievably creative. I’m in constant awe of the pieces she puts together and a little jealous that she got all the talent in the family.
jess - good to see you getting out there! i think you’re a fantastic painter, and you’re work is always really interesting to me. hope we can collaborate again soon - i feel like i always learn a lot from you….
The first time I ever spoke to Jess was in study hall, freshman year, about one of her ink drawings. It is no surprise to me, then, that she’s become this creator of strong visual images =)
It doesn’t matter whether Jessica is creating with words or with paint ( and sometimes she uses both at the same time) she is very talented and always makes compelling work! Keep doing what your doing!
Jess:
I am so proud of you!!! We have an artist in the family!!
Your paintings are amazing, keep up the great work you’re doing!
Love you,
Nani
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