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Jan Ayers

keylarker@yahoo.com
www.janayers.blogspot.com
Plano, Texas

“People assume that I make art because I enjoy it.     
 Art can be soul-satisfying if it’s successful, but the act of creating it is terrifying, since every  fear is confronted at some point.” 

Jan Ayers

Mother May I
$1,800
Stoneware, Steel Rod, and Resin
12"x49" - Wall-hung with D-hooks

Collaborage Group - Jan Ayers, Nan Phillips, Nancy Uline, Stephen Potter      

“Our group formed a unique symbiosis early in this process, in which the original stoneware faces, by Jan Ayers, were singled out for development by Nancy Uline, who was inspired to finish their idea. Nan Phillips had the experience in molding and resin pours, which everyone agreed would be the ideal presentation. Stephen Potter designed and made steel supports for the faces so that they could float above the surface of the resin with minimal interference. The wonderful thing about all this discussion and sharing was that it was all accomplished within the first two group meetings! We quickly discovered that any one of us could leap to our feet with an idea, and that the others would almost intuitively understand, and add their own inspiration and expertise. The result is that our pieces were arrived at not so much linearly, but holistically, as ongoing discussions and refinements. I am amazed that this project worked for us as well as it did, in that I feel capable of working in a higher plane, and that I have the support of trusted artist-friends who understand and respect my work as much as I value theirs.”

Accidental Cosmos

Bird Market at Notre Dame, detail

Oil

Jan has produced logos, illustrations, and corporate photography for diverse clients. Her work can be found in private collections in Dallas, Houston, and Los Angeles. She is currently represented by the Cedars Art Gallery.  

Artist Spotlight

Name:         Jan Ayers

What type(s) of art do you like to create?
The answer to this question is probably supposed to be ‘some kind of medium”, but I like all media. Even ones that, five years ago, I avoided - like ‘found art’. The truth is that I like to create all kinds of art, in all kinds of media, so the answer to the question actually is, “I like to use painting. drawing, and sculpture to try to connect human beings. If a piece can elicit a laugh, or an edgy darkness, or a “Yes - I’ve seen a landscape like that”, then I feel that the total human consciousness has been drawn a bit closer.  I suppose I use art to say “Hey! Look at this!” and if anyone says “I get it!” then I feel successful.

Where did you learn to do what you do?    
Again, a trick question! What you probably want is that I studied art curriculae at ETSU and at UTA, and took workshops, and modeled for workshops when I couldn’t afford to sign up for them. So art has been a formal, on-going study since I was 10. But I learned to do what I do, and how I do it, by observing, and by making a sincere effort to get at the most basic truths about the universe.

Tell us about your most important projects.        
The Collaborage project was pivotal. And the Henderson Art Project. Thinking about it, unhappily, the projects I consider now to be the most important are the ones still inside my head. Apparently, as soon as a piece manifests, I’m over it and on to the next thing - my art is a journey towards something, and not a physical pile of accomplishments. Maybe I need to take a pill.

Describe your studio.                                                              
I have an 8’x 10’ corner in a friend’s manufacturing warehouse in Richardson. It’s cramped, and what I need isn’t there but is at the house - but it’s all mine, and I can take my dog. Plus, my friend has really cool tools.

What type of music do you listen to while you work?    
Rock or classical.

Where do you find your inspiration?                             
How much time do you have? I am inspired by nature. By the insides of forms, by negative space, by conflicting juxtapositions in nature. By textures, by the way bodies and trees and insects are constructed. By human emotion and symbology, and by the way people avoid or reconstruct the universe, and then by how that construct affects the people around them. And lately, by random found objects that have no business being where I found them, so that I’m forced to tell myself a story about that.

Do you have any advice for other artists?
Have a firm grip on the basics, then break some rules, don’t be afraid to fail, then go back and practice the basics again.

Do you belong to any art organizations?                       
In the past, the TVAA, the PSSW, and now just the TSA.

Do you have a website?           
http://www.janayers.blogspot.com/
http://www.keylarker.blogspot.com/

Exhibitions

2009
TSA Juried Membership Show
HCG Gallery
Dallas, Texas

2007, 2008, 2009
"Under The Influence..."
Cedars Art Gallery
Dallas, Texas

2005
Creative Art Center Membership Exhibition
Dallas, Texas

2001
Gallery Exhibition                                             
State Street Studio
Dallas, Texas

1998 
4-artist exhibition, “Points of Light” 
Irving Jaycee Center
Irving, Texas 

1995, 1998, 1999
“Art Show at the Dog Show” 
Wichita, Kansas

1992, 1997, 1998, 2002 
Pastel Society of the Southwest 
Dallas, Texas

Commissions

Kagura Kochu Aikido Dojo 
Healing Touch Massage Therapy 
Amoco- corporate project 
American Dreams Real Estate 
Rhodesian Ridgeback Club of the US 2004 National Specialty Show
Mr. And Mrs. R. L.  Norris
Night Vision Technologies         
Black & Veatch Engineers
Rabbi Yitchak Malka 

Logo
Logo
Logo
Logo
Logo

Wedding Invitations, Linocut
Christmas Cards 2004, 2005
Corporate Photography
Illuminations for Manuscript