“Abundance, Gratitude & Generosity” Come to ArtSpace Everett’s Lobby show this month featuring charcoal, oil pigment and stonework by artist, Anna Balivet Jordan. Opening reception during May’s Art Walk THursday, May 15th 5-8pm. “
Anna Balivet Jordan is a native Vermonter who currently lives in Washington State. A lifelong passion for art led her to major in Studio Art at Wesleyan University (BA ‘93). After graduating, Anna experimented with oils, charcoals, clay, and poetry and was a member of Tarnation Dance Troupe in Burlington, VT. (1994-1995) while raising three new human beings. More recently, Anna has developed her story-telling skills as a Certified Life Cycle Celebrant specializing in Funerals, Celebrations of Life and Memorial services, writing soul sketches and eulogies for her clients that express legacy and personal themes across the honoree’s life.
The large figurative charcoal pieces are energetic, sometimes allegorical, and often jocund. They reflect her distinctive style of natural motion and organic forms. One can see echoes of familiar forms alongside the more alien. Through sculpting stone, Anna begins a conversation with curiosity, which crescendos to song and resolves in mutual understanding. She invites viewers to join in and further develop the conversation. Anna’s distinctive style of dynamic fluidity can be seen in both her sculptures and charcoals. The artist finds the process of exploring color fascinating when bridged with texture and layers. Anna’s ethereal portraits of beings from beyond the veil are oil pastel on worried brown paper combine a playful technique with intuitive insight as she depicts the images that reveal themselves through the wrinkled medium.
Anna’s goal as an artist is to bridge the communication gaps that are formed when written language fails us. Art acknowledges the spirit within us all and, especially in these times, our spirits are thirsty for expression. She hopes to create art that is accessible to all because she believes it is vital to all. When she is not creating art she is a funeral director, celebrant and enjoys yoga, meditation, barefoot walking, forest bathing, tree hugging, traveling and spending time with friends and family. She is currently facilitating a series of “Death Talks” at a local cafe.
“I do art as an essential activity. It is both liberating and demanding, empowering and humbling. All the little decisions help me to get in touch with and express who I am and what I’m about and the moments when thought is abandoned and feeling takes the lead are moments when I learn about myself. Art is both an act of individuation and a bid for connection, both an expression of self and a surrender to the experience of the viewer.“
The Lobby at Artspace Everett Lofts, next to the Schack Art Center 2917 Hoyt Ave will be open to the public for ArtWalk, Thursday, May 15th, from 5 – 8 PM.