Artist's Statement



I'm not really sure just how I do what I do as I create. As I write or sculpt or paint, play an instrument or sing, I disappear, becoming whatever it is that is being creatively born. It is only in a sort of shimmering aftermath that I realize I have been absent, and like a whale emerging from the depths suddenly 'I am' once more.
I am sitting in a room. There is a window beside me, softened at its edges by curtains, and a breeze pulls through. There is a floor beneath my feet. Where have I been?

Then I look and see that the paper beneath my hands is no longer blank, or the room resonates with the music that has flown forth from the guitar I am holding. Words have crowded onto the page of my notebook like a gathering of gleeful old friends. Something I cannot fully explain, whose origins are a complete mystery, exists, where before it did not.


While I do not know how I do what I do, I deeply know why. Much of the world is in pain, and those of us in it feel, in various ways, the dissonance, as the pain reverberates through. Something is wrong with the way we regard the Earth. Something is broken as we treat each other so poorly, as we stagnate in hate, and as we are absorbed by fear. Something needs to change, as we are so bad to ourselves, as we succumb to doubt, isolation and anger.

As I disappear, I think I must be seeking a solution to some of these challenges, issues, and difficulties. What I bring back with me, in words or images or music, responds to the friction, loneliness, misunderstanding and hurt in the world. It questions the way things are, and suggests kindness, symbiosis, awareness and playfulness. It acknowledges what we may lose if we cannot change from our present course, but never fully deviates from the joy and brightness that is still possible.


- Jorie Jenkins



Tuesday, June 14, 2016

The Reclusive Atolli People : Parrot Folk


O'vin and Dalari, Dancers


Though the Atolli tribe were at one time very devoted to their roles as Ambassadors to human beings, with the onset of devastating habitat fragmentation, eventually the bird folk severed all human connection. Approached by fellow Ambassadors in recent times, they showed no interest whatsoever in reconnecting with the species decimating their trees and landscapes. "Man has forgotten that he is Nature," they said.



Knowing that their jungle homelands are under constant threat as Man utilizes such regions for ranching and logging, the Atolli have become increasingly insular, living in a state of denial and decadence as their jungle home disappears around them. Their elaborate parties and jungle Balls are legendary, though few from the outside world ever experience them.


Original 9x12 illustrations, $250 each

These were the first of my most recent Miriconian illustrations, marking the threshold of the most prolific period of my creative career to date. Within a year more than 30 illustrations came quickly to fruition, and a flurry of narrative also emerged in conjunction with the visual work. 

The evolution of the drawings is interesting to follow from here - my love of watercolor quickly diverged into the ease of colored pencil, and aided in the speed at which the works were finished. The momentum of the creative period has yet to abate, with more characters and ideas surfacing all the time... 

                                    

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