Dogwood Gallery Exhibit: Shanny Brooke and Jesse Jason

Shanny Brooke and Jesse Jason
Abstract Paintings
Dogwood Center Lobby Gallery
August 2 through October 1
Lobby Gallery at Dogwood Center for
Performing Arts, 4734 South Campus Ct.,
Fremont, 231-924-8885.

About Shanny Brooke: I began painting out of necessity. Starting late in life, and as a way to cope with the loss of a relationship and a business, painting served as my creative outlet and my life vest. Being a self-taught artist, I have been free to explore all types of mediums, styles and painting implements on my own. Over the years I have felt my work push towards the realm of abstract expressionism. I find it deeply satisfying to express an emotion or a point of view in a less literal way, inviting the viewer to create their own intention behind a particular painting.
Currently I paint primarily using oils, mixed with unconventional mediums, and utilize pallet knives or household implements, such as spatulas or spoons. I work on each piece to create something that looks weathered, has something floating beneath the surface or coming up out of the depths. I enjoy what can be seen between the cracks and layers. I find myself exploring what is often not said with words, and translate this into a painting. I enjoy finding what people try to keep hidden, and try to convey this with my paintings. Just like when I first began painting to serve as a way to release my emotions, the same is true today. Whether it’s a deeper feeling regarding helplessness in this world, or something which is just trivial but is weighing on me, it always gets worked out on the canvas.

About Jesse Jason: Growing up in Northern Michigan, I often spent the endless days of my childhood exploring
the vast varieties of textures, sights, and sounds found within the woods and lakes just beyond my backyard.
There was a great sense of freedom and adventure in those early journeys, and it’s that youthful curiosity that
I try to retain in painting. The infinite combinations of color and form, whether imagined or living in the flesh
will always await our curiosity. It is only our internal desire to explore that fluctuates. It is our self-constructed
ideologies and illusions of stability and logic that keep us from reaching beyond the tame scope of routine. Keeping this in mind, I attempt to start each painting with a clean slate. I may have a sketch or a vague idea as a starting point, but
it is essential that the painting resides apart from any history. The life force of the painting must come from within the work itself. It is only then that the work is able to cut through its surroundings and speak as its own entity.