Jan Rimerman, 2022 Botanical Series
Artist/Art Administrator
Visual Art Coordinator Lakewood Center for the Arts
Curator Dee Denton Gallery
Director/Curator Rain Spark Gallery
Director Rock…Paper…Turtle…Art for Wetlands
The botanical works by Jan Rimerman displayed at Fairweather House & Gallery in April for the Life Forms Exhibit are compositionally framed within a graduated Art Nouveau border. The paintings are created with liquid watercolor on heavy watercolor paper and are mounted on birch cradles. The watercolors are sealed with Dorland wax to protect the surface. The series was inspired by Schreiner’s Iris Gardens in Oregon.
These paintings depart from Jan’s typical charcoal pours with many layers, each revealing something new in the changing light of the day and seasons. Instead of working on the mystical revelation of texture, Rimerman is creating a three-dimensional effect through the composition and use of color and pattern. Returning to some of her early botanical forms seemed fitting for this spring.
Many years ago, Jan had the opportunity to take a workshop from the Queen’s celebrated watercolorist Peter Welton in England. She was the only non-professional watercolorist in the class and the only foreigner to boot. It was an extremely taxing experience, but one that taught technique and life lessons. The artworks in the Fairweather House and Gallery “Life Forms” April 2022 exhibit are delicately patterned with stripes, dots, and unexpected detail as you inspect them.
Fairweather House and Gallery
612 Broadway St.
LIFE FORMS
Art sale and exhibition
Through April 25
Featuring Seaside botanical artist Dorota Haber Lehigh
Oregon coast and Kaui artist and maker Emily Miller
Pacific University Emeritus Professor Jan Shield
Cannon Beach pen and ink artist Britney Drumheller
Mixed media artist, gallerist, and curator Jan Rimerman
https://fairweatherhouseandgallery.com
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Sunflowers At Dawn
The sunflowers are painted in Rimerman’s typical technique of starting with charcoal pour under-paintings. Adding up to 22 layers of transparent fluid acrylic paint on top of this substrate offers a three-dimensional luminosity. The most difficult part of the process is waiting for each layer to dry between each application of color and texture. Organic forms are used as stencils to create the initial black and white underpainting; Water and powdered charcoal, the consistency of cinnamon, are applied to the white surface of heavy watercolor paper. When this layer dries the powdered charcoal is sealed onto the paper with a clear gel.
In the sunflowers paintings, you may discover cedar boughs, sword fern fronds, and/or three turtle petroglyphs hidden beneath the botanical shapes. These are not revealed all at once, but present themselves as the light changes during the day and with the seasons. By changing your observation angle you may see shapes and currents that were not viewed previously. The paintings have something new to unfold each time you look at them.” —Jan Rimerman, mixed media artist
Sunflowers At Dusk
Sunflowers are the national flower of Ukraine. Ukraine produces more sunflower oil than any other country. The flowers are a powerful symbol of resistance of the Ukrainian people against the invasion by Russia. The war has disrupted the growing season of this valuable plant which in turn disrupts the global food chain. Soy and palm oils may fill part of the gap, but this brings another question of sustainable production with farmable land being converted from tropical forests.
Sunflowers are a powerful symbol of hope. The buds trace the movement of the sun from east to west and the flowers face the rising sun of each new day. We can but hope that they will bloom again soon!” –-Jan Rimerman
