Jameson Wells

Having lived and created in the Taos area since 1979, I have been strongly influenced by the energy of the mountains and the tremendous spiritual life force here. I went on to create stone sculptures of the” Seven Rays”, the “Great Mother” archetype, the “Four Elements, the Four Directions, birth, the “Ouroboros”, etc. I painted a ”Rock Wall “ series fascinated by the grid structure underneath the earth in highway cut-throughs. Then, instructed in dreams, I combined sculpture and painting in several series of painted wall reliefs, with oils on heavyweight watercolor paper. The folds and textures emerged by chance as did the mountains by the underlying tectonic forces, and the paint and color by direct expression. In 1997 I began a new series of “Transcendentalist” geometric abstractions, which attempt to question the nature of what we see and of our place in the greater reality of this infinite space and the creative force behind it all. The paintings bring up issues of what is real/not real, seeing beyond appearances. What is the nature of “reality”: on the subatomic level, nothing is solid, is mostly empty space, and how one approaches something influences the form it takes. There is a stillness and a silence that one experiences when in the mountains or the desert, in vast spaces, or in meditation, in which our connection to the Great Mystery can be felt. My hope is to encourage the viewer's curiosity and sense of mystery.

Born in Baltimore MD in 1946 into a musical and artistic family, Jameson Wells began making art and studying classical violin at an early age. In the mid-1970s, in a second BA in Fine Arts program at Towson State University in Maryland she studied painting with Enrique Montenegro, who was GA for Richard Diebenkorn at the University of New Mexico, and with Dr. Mildred Zindler for sculpture. In 1978, indirectly through Mr. Montenegro, she moved to Madrid, New Mexico, and made Taos her permanent home a year later. Her work has been represented in galleries in Taos, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Dallas, Houston, Tucson, and in various other solo and group shows around the country. Wells has worked in many mediums and styles, including figurative and abstract stone sculpture working with metaphysical concepts and the “Great Mother” archetype, dream paintings, and combining painting and sculpture into several series of abstract wall reliefs. Her current work involves layering and weaving paper and fabric into abstract geometric collages, using mostly recycled materials, like old jeans, leftover canvas and paper scraps. Pieces are added, subtracted, woven, painted or drawn around or on or under, or are illusory, all with a high degree of chance in the process as well as silent contemplation. “I try to do what is in front of me, keep it simple, be quiet, and listen to what wants to happen. Trust the creative process, it is a mystery.”

2-D, 3-D, Assemblage, Collage/Mixed Media, Drawing, Fiber Arts, Painting (all materials), Sculpture