*Note*
Thanks to all of your continued support for our project. We interview artists, add calendar dates, and help promote the scene in our spare time for FREE. (Which means we don't get paid for this) MC7C is turning 2 this Summer and we'd like to express our appreciation to all the featured artists and readers / supporters. We do this for you because no one else was doing it when we started it. We hope to showcase a lot more bands, artists, DJ's, venues, and inspirational people for the remainder of 2008!
k@t and -Gabe-
Featured Artist:
Randall Jordan
Biography:My name is Randall Jordan, and I was born and raised in Virginia, and knew from early childhood I wanted to be an artist. I won my first award in high school at a student art show held at Pembroke Mall,...a blue ribbon for a "triple" print of a woodcarving I created depicting an owl swooping in on a hapless victim! From there, my studies branched out to include almost all aspects of art including drawing, painting, sculpture, lithography, pottery, ceramics and silk-screening. I worked for an architect firm after college as a draftsman, a sign company as an artist, a copula silk-screen companies as a technician, a pottery studio as a mold-maker and kiln-repairman, and finally now as a full-time artist, exhibiting in various Art Galleries through-out the greater Tidewater Va. area in juried shows. I offer commission work as well as originals and prints.
My style as an artist is always evolving, sometimes with each new piece. With many of my paintings I attempt to take the viewer to some place they may never have been, inviting them to step right into my picture. If even for just a few moments I enable you to place yourself in my painting, releasing you from the pressures of today's society, I feel my effort was worthwhile. I think there is a spark of an artist present in all of us, just waiting to be let loose. With each new creation I make for you,...perhaps your flame will be lit to inspire you to reach for your own inner artist!
How long have you been creating?
I've been creating my whole life, spanning 52 years now and counting.
What got you started doing art?
Watching my father as a young boy as he transformed black and white photographs into color with a paint brush inspired me from early on. I picked up a pencil and discovered I could draw anything I could see or imagine, and have never turned back since. I made my own potter's wheel and began throwing pots as well as drawing and painting.
Describe your work to someone who has never seen it before.
With every new painting I attempt to take the viewer to some place outside of their regular grueling reality of day to day struggles. The color and brushstrokes are meant to strike a cord laced with bits of excitement,...wonderment,..and appreciation for attention to detail. From the narly giant hollow tubes of the surf in Hawaii, to underwater vistas of giant sea turtles, to the joyous pleasure of children running on the beach, to wild horses running thru marshes, I hope to evoke emotions not regularly experienced on a day-to-day basis. Most of my work is realistic in nature, leaving the guesswork out of the picture for the viewer, leaving only the enjoyment of the aesthetic beauty of the piece.
What do you find visually stimulating right now?
Everything around me all over the natural world is subject to participating in one way or another in a painting. From the natural beauty found in the countrysides, to the dirty alleyways of the inner cities provides plenty of material to express the pleasures and pains of the human-kind.
Any local artists that we need to keep an eye on?
Nichole Wichman, a member of the Art Collective, downtown Portsmouth, is a truly talented oil portrait artist. Barbi Risi, of the Olde Towne Artists(also downtown Portsmouth) is a muti-talented oil and acrylic artist. Scott Miller, a Va. Bch. native is an extremely talented colored pencil realistic artist. All of these artists participate in juried shows around the Tidewater area.
What other artists or movements inform your work/aesthetics/sensibilities?
I look to Renoir for his approach to viewing the natural world with a looser view thru impressionism. His association with Monet, Sisley, and Basille with their light-handed and feathery strokes using lights in a much more heightened sense inspires me constantly with my brushstrokes and use of colors. It's my goal to gradually blend in a looser style of impressionism with my realistic approach.
If there were no financial limits whatsoever for you, what constraints would you most like to overstep?
I would travel overseas and study with some masters in Italy, France, and Spain. I would take plein-aire trips every month, traversing the globe for my subject matter.
Are there other mediums you would explore?
I would love to try sculpture on a large scale, as well as oil painting on a much larger scale. Scratchboard drawings also interest me as well as lithography(which I touched on briefly in college). Silkscreening has also interested me as I have worked in various areas in that field.
Did you grow up in Virginia?
Yes I grew up in Virginia till 18 at which time I moved to the Outer Banks for a couple of years. Then I went back to college for a couple of years at which time I returned to the Outer Banks for 10 years.
Do you do gallery shows?
To date I have been in the Artists Gallery (Norfolk Ave., near the beachfront) in several shows, in the Pembroke 4 art Gallery(beside Pembroke Mall, Va. Bch.), the George Kello Art Gallery (Princess Anne & Columbia, Norfolk). I also have paintings in Charlie's Cafe(18th & Granby St., Norfolk), The Grill(Links Golf Course Restaurant in Hampton), & Olde Towne Ice Cream Cafe(High St., Portsmouth).
What kind of jewelry do you create?
Fine necklaces, earrings, bracelets, anklets, and hair art using fine quality gemstones, bone & wooden beads, & sterling silver, gold, & brass spacers and toggle clasps. I also create fine braided hemp and rounded black leather jewelry using many of the same materials.
What's your favorite piece (at the moment)?
My favorite piece of jewelry is a Jade and Turquoise necklace made with polished turquoise nuggets, jade rectangular tube beads, snowflake obsidian round beads, Russian tourmaline rondelle beads, purple aventurine rondelle beads, sterling silver spacers, and a large, yellow, rectangular yellow turquoise twisted bead as the focal. The length is 21" and connects with a sterling silver toggle clasp.
My favorite painting is a tie between "Pelican's Roost", a 48" x 24" acrylic-on-canvas, and "A Moment In Time", a 34" x 34" acrylic-on-canvas.
The business side of being an artist: how do you market/promote yourself, and does it work?
First I produce art work and build up a body of work. Then I open various sites online and connect to search engines to get myself found. I visit as many art buyer sites, forums, and blogs as possible, networking information and ideas as well as leaving a link to my sites with each visit. I post my art on various social sites, inviting all to attend any art shows I'm participating in. I try to enter all juried art shows(as many as I can afford)around the area, and even occasionally entering magazine events as well. I talk to restaurant owners and business owners entertaining the idea of displaying my art on their walls, providing them with free artwork as well as giving me an outlet for my art to be seen by the public.
How do you cope?
I am a master carpenter, drywaller, tiler, and painter, as well as a custom-fishingrod builder, which I do on the side as much as possible to help me follow my dream of making it on my art alone. I try to utilize all my friend and work contacts to my advantage offering my art as an alternative to the stress of todays society.
Let's have some fun with word association. Give me your immediate feelings on the following:
Art shows-Terrific venues for the public to interact with actual artists and gleam some kinda clue into the art culture as well as let the public enjoy my efforts, possibly taking home a piece that has endeared iteslf to their hearts.
Mohawks-A strip mall fashioned on the head.
Malls and Shopping Centers-Commercial circuses meant to seperate the public from their hard-earned money.
Independent Music Stores / Businesses / Restaurants-Private businesses offering entertainment for the public,...highly recommended.
Best Venue for art shows-Stockley Gardens Art shows, Nansemond-Suffolk Academy Art Show, Boardwalk art Show, and any Gallery in Aspen Colorado!
Costume Parties-A great venue for individual creativity as well as e terrific sexual meeting place.
Favorite Dive Bar-Baron's Pub, downtown Portsmouth!
What's the most played song on your iPod (or an equivalent music playing device) in the past week?
The Eagle's whole newest CD.
What came first, the art or the misery?
Art came first(nature) then came Man ruining nature, thus followed misery!
What do you think of what MC7C does?
Any organization that attempts to enlighten the public to the art scene and help to further the acceptance of local culture is a quinessential boon to our society! Kudos!!!!!!!!!!!
How would you make it better?
I would open a large gallery/working studio for artists with cheap rent. backed by various restaurants who we would provide artwork for!
Have you been to any of our events?
Not yet, as I have only just heard of you! Good luck with your ventures and let me know if there is anything I can do to help!
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