Abstract artist Jessie Morgan resides in the Boston area and creates abstract paintings.
She has been featured in numerous art galleries and exhibitions.
JESSIE MORGAN - STATEMENT
I begin these paintings by creating a textured surface which resembles the ocean
floor or skin under magnification. Working on stretched canvas, I then apply multiple
layers of transparent paint and often charcoal and pastel. I work on a flat surface, so the
paint does not run but pools selectively. The overlapping organic images reference things above, on
and below the surface. Layers of time and space are revealed through the striated media.
The process and result are a meditative experience. The paintings “Waking Up” and “Asleep While Walking”
address different states of awareness. I work to create a sense of mystery and clarity, intensity and
vastness. For me, painting is an active process of give and take and exciting discovery.
It is a way of looking to see and understand the rhythm of change.
Although I am influenced by nature, I am not interested in replicating it. My paintings evoke the experience of
ones’ field of vision. I incorporate impressions of light, and the seasons and consider our growth, and
life cycles. I am not attempting to represent a singular view; instead I am creating a new entity which
is a compilation of these observations and experiences.
JESSIE MORGAN - REVIEWS
The Boston Herald, January 2005, Joanne Silver
“Lush clouds of color sift across the dimpled surfaces of Jessie Morgan's paintings on canvas, all titled ``Waking Up.''
These, too, luxuriate in tone and texture, in layers emerging from organic depths.
For Morgan, this layer is not an opaque shield, but a flickering veil of luminous color. Multiple coats of paint have
been built up and scraped off until the final abstraction attains the misty shimmer of light on water. Dots of color
pool and break up to expose previous tones just below the undulating surface. Pale blue dances over reds and yellows.
Ochre meanders over shallow ridges. Snowy clouds drift like fog on a ground of golden veins.
All the paintings in “Waking Up'' tantalize with textures that remain almost invisible from certain angles and then pop
out from others. ``Skin'' in these works has a more universal meaning than simply human flesh. As rendered in paint, it
is the appearance of any aspect of nature - from a misty breeze to a rippling pond. ``Waking Up'' evokes a process of
coursing through many levels before reaching the last one, and Morgan echoes this journey with her laborious technique.“
The Boston Globe, December 2004, Cate McQuaid
“The surface of her paintings (all titled "Waking Up") is dense and alluring, like stratified waterfalls of color. Each
is a rippled veil through which we glimpse other colors, other worlds. Morgan is a colorist. Her tones, and the way
they interact, set off particular reactions: vulnerability or energy.”
Art New England, April/May 2005, Shawn Hill
“Morgan’s surfaces are like seaweed, whole walls of it. Reticulated and striated, they seem to breathe in organic cellular
life. Her colors are varied (off-shades of primaries, deep red, pale blues, hints of gold), and her titles suggest deeper,
specific meanings.”
The Boston Globe, July 2005, Cate McQuaid
“Jessie Morgan builds gesso ridges over the surface of her pieces, paints, then traces those ridges with pencil. The
washes of tone feel ethereal, but the texture is like furrowed land.”
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