Beginning this June and running through the summer until Labor Day, you will find the paintings of Jacelen Pearson on display at the Tualatin Public Library. These works of art celebrate the beauty of the natural world and the human imagination interacting with it.
While Jacie’s (pronounced Jackie) artwork gives us splendid realism and a fascination with tiny details, the overall compositions tell a bigger, playful story of spinning what’s there into something more. Sea creatures swimming in an almost surreal underwater world, insects landing on rocks that seem alive, rusty trucks tucked into tall grasses whispering tales…these are some of the narratives you’ll find in this exhibition where there is mystery in the shadows.
“My best days are when I can paint all day,” Jacie says and laughs. She also confessed, “Having a passion is good AND bad. I need to find balance in life while also spending time with family and friends, traveling, and getting exercise to stay healthy.”
So, you may guess that Jacie is quite prolific, and you would be right; when she produces two to three paintings a week, she considers it a good week. She recently began showing in bigger competitions and won First Place in the much-celebrated Annual Water Media Show at the Oregon Society of Artists for 2023. The judge, an internationally recognized artist, was intrigued and baffled by Jacie’s work; as talented as this judge is, he admitted he did not know how she did what she did technique-wise to achieve the intriguing textures and patterns.
Jacie is excited about experimenting with her technique and media, which is always the hallmark of a good artist. Her latest works are ones in which she starts with texture and color and lets the painting evolve from there. Recently, she has incorporated collage, weaving, and tissue paper into her works.
As a child, Jacie always wanted to be an artist. After majoring in Art in college, though, her creativity was channeled into a satisfying career in Illustration and Graphic Design. She worked for several book publishers over the years and later worked as a freelance designer.
After semi-retiring in 2019, Jacie finally was able to pursue her dream of being a full-time fine artist, taking workshops in Watercolor at OSA. Unfortunately, it was the start of the pandemic, and along with the rest of us, she experienced the traumatizing nature of shutdowns, lockdowns, and quarantines. To get the drive back to being an artist, she embarked on an endeavor with her brother-in-law, Mike Newman of Corvallis. Together, they collaborated online and produced a calendar for family and friends, using his beautiful photographs and her interpretations of them. This project continued for three years and brought her out of the isolation of Covid. A sample of a page from one of the calendars is represented here. That project is a testament to the healing power of art.
Come to the Living Room Gallery in the Tualatin Public Library to see Jacie’s uplifting paintings. This program is sponsored in part by the Tualatin Arts Advisory Committee. If you would like to learn more about this program, contact Angela Wrahtz at angela.wrahtz@comcast.net. If you are interested in acquiring any of the paintings in the show, please contact the artist directly at jacelenpearson@gmail.com.
