Artist's Statement

I have been involved with drawing and painting since I was a small child - I began by making paper dolls when I was 4 years old.

Creativity, for me, is an uneven process - successes and failures, frustration, anxiety and pleasure, all are woven into the process, and all seem necessary and important when attempting to approach the subject matter in new ways. It is a bumpy road, but also an exciting one.

I love working with watercolors because of the wonderful transparency of the medium, and the sense of light it creates. I build up colors through multiple glazes, shifting the balance and tone between shapes until the tension feels right. I like playing with values, so that some shapes come forward and others are pushed into the background. The subject matter is of minor importance; I am more interested in the boundaries between shapes, and how they interact with each other - the push-pull as they effect each other, as well as the movement of light and color over the surface.

The watercolor paintings in this exhibit combine several themes. Flowers have always been a dominant focus, but now often in a wilder, less formal setting than in the past, occasionally just at the beginning edge of disintegration. The dark backgrounds are an important emotional element- they symbolize the source of life and energy that the flowers have come out of, and to which they will eventually return. Another theme I have been exploring is distortions and reflections created in glass - small universes mirroring the environment, yet complete and unique in themselves.

JEAN CRANE

RECENT HONORS:

2005 Honorable Mention, Watercolor Wisconsin, Wustum Art Museum, Racine, WI
"Who's Who in American Art"

GALLERIES:

Banaker Gallery, Walnut Creek, CA
Chosy Gallery, Madison, WI
Edgewood Orchard Gallery, Door County, WI
Gingrass Gallery, Milwaukee, WI
Leslie Levy Gallery, Scottsdale, AR

EXHIBITS: (Partial Listing)

Grace Chosy Gallery, Madison, WI, Two Person Show 2007
Grace Chosy Gallery, Madison, WI,Two Person Show 2005
Wustum Museum of Art, Racine, WI, One person show, 1991
Grace Chosy Gallery, Madison, WI, One person show, 1991
American Watercolor Society, New York, NY, Emily Lowe Award
Watercolor USA, Springfield, MO
Lancaster Art Center, Lancaster, PA
Paine Art Center, Oshkosh, WI
Watercolor Wisconsin, First place, 1986
Wisconsin Men and Women in the Arts
"Layering: an Art of Time and Space"
Albuquerque Art Museum
Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan, WI
Cudahy Gallery, Milwaukee Art Museum
Art Institute of Chicago Sales Gallery

COLLECTIONS: (Partial Listing)

Madison Art Center, Madison, WI
West Bend Gallery, West Bend, WI
Wustum Art Museum, Racine, WI
Kemper Collection, Chicago, III
Miller Brewing Collection, Milwaukee, WI
Northwestern Mutual collection, Milwaukee, WI
Hyatt Regency Collection
Borg-Warner Corporate Collection
Wyndahm Hotel Collection