Rebecca A. Jacoby, Owner of Jacoby ARTchiving, 

Neighborhood: South Kensington/Old Kensington 

Discipline: Mixed-Media Paintings and Drawings on Paper and Canvas

Training: MFA in Printmaking, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY;

BA in Philosophy & Politics, Mount Holyoke College, S. Hadley, MA;

Printmaking at the School of Visual Arts, NY, NY;

Painting at the California College of Art, Oakland, CA;

Residencies at Vermont Studio Center & Jentel Artists Residency, WY;

Studio Assistant to Marjorie Van Dyke, Master Printer, VanDeb, NY, NY;

Makes: Currently making medium-large scale paintings in oil, acrylic, pastel & collage on canvas; medium-scale paintings in acrylic, pen & collage on paper; and small-scale drawings in pen and marker on paper.

 

Methods: Doing art is therapeutic and intensely enjoyable. I don’t have any difficulty “doing” art, for which I’m lucky. For the past year and a half I have been developing a series based on an intricate design of amorphic, interlaced pebbles or stones, cell-like structures that repeat, moving, growing and evolving naturally across the surface of the canvas. The small structures vary in size and shape – some are rounder, others oblong or with angular edges. Each piece is a process of putting pen or brush to paper or canvas and letting the imagery take on whatever shape it is meant to become. For work on paper, I paint on heavyweight printmaking paper, which is an integral part of the formal composition rather than just a surface.  Currently I am adding small round washer-like pieces and cutting out the centers. They act as starting points or catalysts that spur on more imagery and add layers, texture and depth. I like to let accidents happen – drips, blotches, etc. – because they are natural and also instigate imagery.

 

When working on canvas I start by applying a ground of acrylic wash, rubbing it into the canvas with cloth or brushes, then repeatedly sanding the surface and reapplying new layers of ground. This also creates texture, depth and lets different shapes emerge from the ground that collaged elements and imagery can extend out of. As with printmaking there is a good deal of “process” to my painting but there is also a lot of spontaneity and exploration with different media and what I call mark-making tools – anything I can use to make a mark. I believe in doing what feels good when it comes to making art – not forcing oneself to use a particular medium or into a box if it doesn’t feel right. 

 

Most recently: I was part of the show Works on Paper at the LG Tripp Gallery in Old City that took place in March. It was an excellent show and received great feedback.

 

Next up: Next up is Art for the Cash Poor at the Crane Building, June 9-10 with a sneak preview on Friday night, June 8. AFTCP requires artists to sell their work for under $199, a price point that makes some original artwork like mine accessible. 

 

Drawings from my current series will start at about $180. My older drawings, paintings and prints ranging in size from 2” x 2” - 32” x 38,” range in price from $10 - $199. So there is really something for everybody. I enjoy the event because I get to meet great people who are genuinely interested in what I do and provide interesting and informative feedback. Although my large-scale work isn’t available at AFTCP, people are welcome to contact me after the event and visit my studio at the Crane Building by appointment. 

 

Shape, texture, color, different media and materials and the world around me inspire me, as does art, crafts and hand-made work of all kinds. For the current body of work particular inspiration came from the stones and trees around the edge of a lake in New Hampshire. The trees look like they grow directly out of the water. Boulders and rocks of every size support them in what seems like a very tenuous existence. The velvety water, dirt, moss, smaller rocks and pebbles, branches and natural growth around them are incredibly lush and inviting. I like to look at the way that nature effects buildings and structures too. Many of the crumbling buildings in my neighborhood hold a certain beauty. They may be abandoned and falling apart but being at the mercy of the elements, they often have sprouted plants and trees; their structural elements have become part wild.  

 

I do have a “need” to make art. It is a therapeutic process that provides me emotional and mental well being. At it’s most basic the work represents that therapeutic process and the action of simply putting pen or brush or whatever to use. So the work is literally about doing the work. Visual artists express themselves, their feelings about a particular topic or their feelings about the world around them with their own unique language. My various shapes and colors are my own particular visual language that I hope speaks to or affect others in some pleasurable way.
 



I like to hear people’s interpretations of what my work is or what it brings to mind for them. In the current work many people see geographical forms, underwater environments like coral reefs, cellular structures or the night sky. That something I’ve made has inspired a feeling or image in a viewer is both satisfying and compelling to me.  I hope that people see something that is intriguing and makes them want to delve deeper into that world.