Artist Interview: Jess Rees Seeks Space at Starry Night Retreat (Part III)

In this interview, Jess Rees- an artist who came to Starry Night Retreat this fall- talks about her creative vision and her experience in Truth or Consequences.

This is the last part (Part III) of her interview with Feral Wilcox (You can read Part I here, and Part II here, in case you missed them!).

Space Seeker: Jess Rees (Part III)

Jess did go to art school, at Rutgers University. Before that, as a high school student, she attended the Art Student’s League in New York. This was a formative experience. She met and worked with artists and instructors from all over the world. Here, she learned materials and technique, as well as a how-to on the variety of ways an artist can live. At Rutger’s the art school curriculum was concept-driven. The combination of these two approaches describes Jess’s current working style. She says it is a mix – a dance between intuition, inspiration, and content. She is grateful for her academic training, but feels that, in the field of art, a different format might work better. The four-year time frame and the fragmentation of subject matter into courses were frustrating. A long, stretched out apprenticeship approach might better serve the artist, with the course work then able to correlate with what the artist needs to learn at the time.

Jess’s influences are many, but the three she mentions are Yayoi Kusama, an Japanese artist making installation art in the 80’s. Cezanne, for the structural nature of his landscapes. And Giorgio Morandi, for still lifes in muted palettes. Jess does not complain about the limitations her current life places on her art. Indeed, the limitations often serve to shape the process, when they do not shut it down entirely. After her stay at Starry Night, Jess commented that she saw even more the necessity of uninterrupted, self-directed time, with no obligations, even social ones, and a way to be out of her element, with no exhibition pressure, no pressure to produce, no limits on starting and stopping time, just pure working time. These qualities are necessary to enable the artist to explore and deepen her work. She found these things here.