Jacklyn St. Aubyn

Memories and experience as embodied in objects are the subject matter of my still lifes. Objects play an important part in my creative process. They serve as receptacles for meaning and reference cultural myths and universal symbols. Through repeated use over many years, these objects form a personal vocabulary of symbols. The first step in my creative process is setting up a still life. I spend a great deal of time choosing objects from my collection and arranging them in an evocative way. I look for visual relationships as well as symbolic references, hoping for a narrative to emerge. I rely on intuition and emotion to guide me. This is the most difficult and unpredictable part of my painting process. Once I am satisfied with the still life, I begin painting. I now have a very different relationship with the objects I’ve chosen. The moment I put brush to panel, a transformation takes place. Colors and shapes create a tactile song filled with rhythms and melodies. Objects and images express poetic thoughts, and unspoken revelations appear. The process is meditative and calming. I draw from a consciousness hidden somewhere within me. The veil of familiar thinking gives way to freedom of mind. This is the psychic space of painting. I create a magical place in my paintings where things may be represented accurately, yet are not what they appear to be. First perceptions are misleading. Landscapes and interiors are present, but not in a realistic sense. I conjure imagina

Jacklyn St. Aubyn taught painting and drawing at New Mexico State University for 25 years. During this time she wrote and published Drawing Basics, now in its second edition. The book grew directly out of her experience teaching beginning drawing to college students who, for the most part, had no prior drawing experience. It presents a clear, straightforward approach to learning how to draw based on close observation. The belief that anyone who can see can learn to draw, along with the conviction that personal expression has its source in visual perception, forms the basis of St. Aubyn’s methods. The inspiration for Jacklyn’s teaching methods is also central to her studio work. At the heart of both is a desire to illuminate life through the act of seeing. Her commitment to drawing began at age eight, when she taught herself by copying images from comic books and magazines. Drawing became her refuge during a difficult childhood. Later, as a single mother of two infant sons at age 25, she again turned to drawing and enrolled in a night class at the Kansas City Art Institute. The possibility of studying art—and teaching as a means of support—was thrilling. She earned her BFA at the University of Missouri–Kansas City and her MA at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. Formal study proved deeply satisfying, despite many obstacles. One challenge was her commitment to representational imagery at a time when it was considered passé. Fortunately, feminism was a strong for

2-D, Painting (all materials)