JazWorks

Jill Zaheer's JAZWORKS: A Tapestry of Mixed Media, Painting, Collaborations, Photography, and Poetry

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Welcome to the BlogHop!

I was recently asked by Canadian artist  Veronica Funk 
 to participate in a blog hop and I was overjoyed to do so!

  Currently,   Veronica  is  working on a new exhibit for August titled " Sacred Space" which entails acrylic painting on canvas and features the landscape of her youth in Northern Canada. She's also finishing up a couple of articles for publication in the fall as well as working on an online workshop.  Several years ago, I participated with Veronica  and 4 other  talented artists in an altered art book round robin collaborative titled Innerworks.  Another fabulous artist in the InnerWorks project is  Supria Karmaker  who will also be participating in the blog hop  today July 25th. Hope you get a chance to look at her post!


1) What am I working on/writing?

 Currently, I'm working on a new collage for a book being written by an amazingly talented west coast artist.   I'm so excited about it- and hoping to take a few different twists outside my usual style in its creation.

 I just finished a commission for the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai  in New York City to honor the founding chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine.,  Sheldon Jacobson, MD,   Since his passing in June 2009, the Sheldon Jacobson Education and Research Center was created in his honor with a ribbon cutting ceremony held this May 2014.









 I had been asked to create a collage symbolizing his accomplishments and the essence of what he brought to the department.

 Besides being a tremendous privilege to be asked to do this, it was a personal gift to me to honor him in this way. I wanted this artwork to combine some of my favorite components of my prior work in  conveying who Dr. Jacobson was as a person, educator, leader, visionary and compassionate doctor.   These pictures  are  of  my artwork, titled,  Reflections.

2) How does my work/writing differ from others of its genre?
My work consists of a tapestry of symbolism, colors, shapes and a flow of thoughts that I try to weave together- often including segments of my photos, ephemera that has meaning to me, pieces of art that I may have worked on in prior collaborations with artists or art that others have liked. It's my own circle of art-a type of fluidity from one work to another- all encompassing parts of the world around me.

3) Why do I write/work what I do?
 I am driven by nature, how in awe I am of it, and how what I see always looks like a picture. Since a child, I would see shapes and images and designs in everyday reflections, windows, wall papers. I am always inspired to create some sort of connection between nature, my thoughts, words and how they are all tied together.






4) How does my writing/working process work?
I always feel art within me- wherever I go, in whatever I am doing.  My only limitation is the time to express it with the everyday responsibilities I have that priority over the canvas.

And now that you know a bit more about me, let me introduce you to  the talented artist,
                                 
                                                             Deb Eck. 


Below, you can see  one of  Deb's  beautifully created tapestried  art  journals  woven together  in rich olive green and golden tones  of  varied patterned materials  that she donated and I was lucky enough to win at  a Hurricane Sandy fund raiser last year  spearheaded by The Altered Page.

        
 As Deb indicates about herself-- "For many years, I have been fascinated with the discourses surrounding madness and the stories of women historically trapped inside the boundaries of those ideas. Recently I have been further engaged by a resonance I perceived between this discussion and the language  of Victorian design reform.  All of this interest  has been focused through the space of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "Yellow Wallpaper",   a work that concerns both the mad women and immoral design... I find there is no way to be outside the  pattern,  that to find a space I must struggle to inhabit the interstices between ornament and flourish.   My work is about finding what lies in this in-between, of living in the pattern and subverting its lines to make my own design.  I find myself drawn repeatedly to work that  requires repetition and the labor of my hands and always to the presence of text and pattern and to making work that inhabits the spaces of the studio and gallery." 

Hope you can visit Deb's blog and Supria's blog  TODAY  when they participate in the blog hop!
 ***


8 comments:

~*~Patty S said...

Dear Jilly ~♥~ The detail in what you create goes so deep to the heart of the matter.
This commemoration piece you created for Dr Jacobson is such a gift helping to carry on his legacy...people must really enjoy learning more about him and his work.
Nice to see you blogging again.
Time does have a way of flying by
oxo

~*~Patty S said...

Thank you also for introducing us to Deb :-)

steen said...

Hi Jill, Thanks for sharing with us a little about how you work. Yes, your playing with symbolism, colors and shapes is so fascinating and always make one search and think and wonder.. Your contribution to the Icahn School of Medicine in honor of S. Jacobson has all that. So, I look forward to more and please don´t leave again :)

Gaby Bee said...

Dear Jill, your commemoration piece is unique and beautiful. I love every single part of your collage ... it's like reading a book. Just brilliant!

I'm off to take a look at Deb's piece.

Nice to see you blogging again.

Gaby <3

Patti Edmon Artist said...

Oh Jill, the work you've done recently is incredible on so many levels, not the least of which is your personal involvement and connection to that medical community. I could look at it a dozen times and still need to look again for the detail I've missed...
xoxo

Veronica Funk said...

Jill...your work is getting more beautiful and intricate and just pulls me in...what an honour it must have been to create that stunning piece.

Supria Karmakar said...

Hey there Jill:
It has been a great pleasure to get to know you through the collaborative….and to see how your work is evolving…the details are rich and so meaningful. Thanks for sharing your love and passion with the world. Wishing you much success
supria

Supria Karmakar said...

Hey there Jill:
It has been a great pleasure to get to know you through the collaborative….and to see how your work is evolving…the details are rich and so meaningful. Thanks for sharing your love and passion with the world. Wishing you much success
supria

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