Artist Profile: Jennifer Day
This article appeared in the 7.8.09 issue of the Weekly Dig.
http://www.weeklydig.com/[catpath]/200907/jennifer-day
If green is the new black and black used to be the new white, where does that leave the tried-and-true duo of black and white? Not out in the cold, as local artist Jennifer Day invites the two-toned classics inside for some hot cocoa and a lead role in her new exhibit, Air and Ocean.
A Worcester native, Day found an early, albeit fleeting friend in artistry. “I didn’t take it very seriously when I was young, but it was always there for me,” she says. “I was an art major in college, so let’s say I’ve always been an artist.” She currently works out of her home studio in Newburyport, something she’s thankful for. “It works out really well because I have a family I have to take care of. I have three boys and a busy schedule, so I’m lucky I can work here at home.”
Day approaches her work as an “experiment, employing certain constants” and variables. Every new encounter with art, whether as exciting as a casino atmosphere or as challenging as painting a masterpiece, is a learning experience for her. “It isn’t just about throwing down your emotions. There’s an awful lot of planning. The geometry of the space is one of the most important things,” she says. “When you’re dealing with nebulous elements such as air and water, you have to try even harder to organize them.”
There’s a stunning level of realism present in every painting in Air and Ocean, showcasing Day’s skill with Masonite board, lampblack paint -an unclassifiable carbon-based paint made from the soot of burned resin, fat, oil or tar -and paper towels. No brushes here, folks. “It’s really a question of wiping,” she says. “I put down the surface and wipe away at it. All the white you see is just the panel showing through. It’s so much about pushing and pulling, and making the light come through.” Who knew the act of wiping could produce something so stunning?
The centerpiece of Day’s exhibit is Cumulous—a colossal, 7-foot-wide, 4-foot-high masterpiece that took two weeks to complete. “It really gives you this sense of vastness,” Day says. “I needed a focal point when you walked into the gallery. If it was feasible, I’d do one that was 50 feet high. It really doesn’t matter. You do it in pieces.”
Day has shown at the Bromfield Gallery twice before, in 2005 and 2007. The oldest co-op in Boston, Bromfield allowed her contributions as a guest artist before inviting her to be a member. She finds the community at Bromfield the best part of the arrangement. “Bromfield is not a commercial gallery in the sense that it’s owned by someone and they’re just try to sell your paintings,” she says. “This is a small community that respects each others’ work, and that’s so amazing. I love everyone there.”
Day enjoys showing in Boston but has high hopes for the future. “I’d like to reach toward New York some day, but for now, I’m getting along just fine in this environment.”