Archive for the ‘Honors’ Category

2024 CCMag Awards!

Friday, November 8th, 2024

“This year has been the biggest one yet for the Contemporary Collage Magazine Awards. We received almost two thousand entries across all six categories and the calibre of work has been outstanding.”
— Les Jones and Molly Campbell
 

 

Delighted to announce that my collage landscapes have earned international recognition from Contemporary Collage Magazine, with a Bronze Award in the Nature Series category. The jurors also placed my LITTER-ALLY KENTUCKY artworks in the overall “Series Shortlist.” The England-based publication has set an impressive standard for worldwide coverage of our artistic medium. My thanks to the panel of judges, with congratulations to fellow award winners, including friends Teri Dryden, Allan Bealy, and Robert Voigts.
 
   

It is gratifying not only to have my particular area of concentration gain recognition, but for it to be in the context of a wider acknowledgment of representational collage as a vital approach to the medium. I give great credit to CCMag for their ongoing salute to “collage as painting,” and to all the 2024 competition adjudicators.

 

Above Curtis Road
Boyle County, Kentucky
 
collage en plein air by J A Dixon
11 x 8 inches
part of the LITTER-ALLY KENTUCKY collection
giclée print available

Posted in A Bealy, Collage, En Plein Air, Honors, J A Dixon, Landscape, Publications, R Voigts, T Dryden | No Comments »

Painting the town again. (With paper!)

Sunday, June 30th, 2024

“Yes, I hustle, I hustle to live with the intensity that only maturity can give.”
— Anthony Hopkins
 

The plein air tradition is alive and well in Central Kentucky. My thanks to Arts Connect for an outstanding “Paint the Town” event, with sincere appreciation to juror James Swanson for his recognition of collage as a plein air medium. A 2nd-place prize was quite unexpected, because it was everything I could do to meet their timetable in the extreme heat. All artwork had to be delivered framed and ready for immediate display by the 8am to 2pm deadline.
   

This event is always challenging for me, because I rarely need to paste as fast as I must for such a rigorous pace. Every time I go outside to create a collage landscape, adequate preparation is important, and then I try to be as spontaneous as I can with the materials that I bring. For this annual competition, the chosen scene is carefully scouted. I make more “prepared ingredients” ahead of time. That usually means additional printed-text gel transfers on a range of colored papers. You may have seen how I often include them for facade patterns, foregrounds, and foliage. Dana (my indispensable partner) dug out some of her mid-century carpet thread for my mobile stash, and I used it during the final minutes for utility wires.

The resulting exhibition is at the downtown branch of Lexington Public Library. For as long as it lasts, please view the artworks online to see a strong body of landscapes completed on that hot day. Buy one!

 

Ode to Grain
collage en plein air by J A Dixon
100% / 0% — site to studio
10 x 10 inches + wood frame, crafted by the artist
available for purchase

•  Second Place Prize

Posted in 1) Available!, Collage, Constraints, En Plein Air, Events, Exhibitions, Honors, Landscape, Technique, Theme/Variation | 1 Comment »

Collage studios exposed! Endorse the CHAOS!

Friday, April 1st, 2022

“It took me 1-1/2 years to tame this beast. The whole process was such an emotional rollercoaster. It’s interesting to notice how contradictory I (still) feel about the whole thing. This might sound weird, and don’t get wrong – I’m super proud of the book and this is the biggest thing I’ve ever done, but when I started the project, I was in a very bad place. The company I had founded filed a bankruptcy, and years of mistreating myself led to collapsing and struggling with very negative thoughts. After the worst waves, I felt I needed some kind of personal project, so that I could focus into something else other than my problems. And so this project was born. I’ve received overwhelming support and positive feedback, which has helped me to push forward.”
— Niko Vartiainen
 

One of the most dynamic guys in the collage scene is Finland’s Niko Vartiainen. His new, highly unusual book, THE CUTTING CHAOS, celebrates the diverse studios of 28 international collage artists. I’m pleased that he chose to showcase my basement workplace with an eight-page feature. It’s a real privilege! Photos reveal my tools and chunks of the surrounding stash. One of the images highlights the “collage kit” that enables me to work in the medium en plein air. The approach relies on a re-purposed plastic dish drainer that was spared a land-fill demise. Paper resources fit into the slots for plates (protection from the breeze), and my three different adhesives are held in the flatware compartments. Next to the kit you can see an ancient, ugly hair dryer that still gets almost daily use. The 244-page hardcover publication includes an interview format. Participating artists share their answers to a set of identical questions about their workspaces. My subterranean “fortress of solitude” in our bungalow hasn’t been kept a secret, but only a few people have seen it before now. Hello, world!
 
 
 
 
 

 

Posted in Honors, Ingredients, J A Dixon, N Vartiainen, Publications | No Comments »

Still Life with Peony Tulips

Monday, October 11th, 2021

“We think of the things we own and use as defining us in some way, but that can only be true if we first describe the things. Describing is a remarkable human act. It connects our inner and outer experience: as we observe and record the material world, we respond and reflect. We enter the realm where the material world meets the imagination. That’s the fertile ground of art.”
– Sheldon Tapley
 

I created this artwork for The Object Seen: Contemporary Still Life, current exhibition at Art Center of the Bluegrass in Danville. The juror was Sheldon Tapley, masterful painter, draftsman, and Stodghill Professor of Art at Centre College. I received a 2nd-place ribbon and cash prize. The honor came as a surprise, since I don’t consider myself a practitioner or student of still life as an art form. I have, however, looked deeply at artwork made by Sheldon and those who are. The arms-length quality of modern still life has compelled my close scrutiny for many years. Given that influence, I brought to the genre what I’ve discovered by “painting in papers” from direct observation (the long sweep of art history hovering somewhere outside my conscious awareness, with its rich tradition of artists tackling visual cornacopias of objects and edible fare). I decided to interpret a tabletop group of objects from raw material, rather than assemble a conventional collage composition from found images.

Please view a video clip of the juror’s remarks about my artwork.

The peony tulip blossoms were created en plein air in a local flower garden. The small “still life within a still life” was commenced and partially finished from a setup of actual objects. I relied on photo reference for the rest. Ingredients include colored paper (printed and unprinted), wallpaper, ruined book parts, tissue, reclaimed tea bags, string, and a dried leaf, plus minimal use of walnut juice, burnt coffee, tinted paste, and marker-ink edging. Adhesives include wheat paste, acrylic matte medium, and white glue.

 

Still Life with Peony Tulips
collage on salvaged canvas
18 x 23.75 inches

•  Second Place Prize

Posted in 1) Available!, Collage, Cubism, En Plein Air, Exhibitions, Honors, Ingredients, J A Dixon, Larger Works, Methodology, S Tapley, Still Life, Technique | No Comments »

Paint the town. (With paper!)

Saturday, July 3rd, 2021

“If everything seems under control, you’re just not going fast enough.”
— Mario Andretti
 

One week ago, I spent a windy Saturday in frantic competition with the clock, and managed to get an outdoor collage artwork framed and delivered for Lexington’s annual Paint the Town plein air event. At the opening reception that same evening, I was stunned to get a prompt sale and 2nd-place prize. It was one of the most exhilarating twelve hours I’ve experienced in quite a while.

Oh, the dubious lengths some of us will go to chase artistic intensity — even the temporary madness of extreme deadline pressure — all in the pursuit of rapt spontaneity. Heaven help me!

It doesn’t seem so long ago when I first took my collage obsession out of doors, and this kind of open challenge was a goal too absurd to contemplate. I had scouted the location and spent a couple days in preparation. By the time I’d registered a blank canvas, raced to my site and set up, one of the precious six hours had evaporated. I began to battle the breeze (nothing new there). Nor were the other 40 artists involved my foes. It was clear that the only towering opponent I faced was a daunting imperative to speed up my process. I’ve never pasted paper so fast in my life!

The judge said this about my piece: “I was very interested in the way this artist managed to create such an evocative landscape using collaged paper — and on a windy day! Places and buildings often hold so many memories and meanings, and the use of text on the siding of the buildings — with the words appearing in reverse, so they become texture and tone — adds another level of meaning.”

It’s gratifying, and profoundly reinforcing, to have a knowledgeable evaluator find significance in aspects that have evolved gradually to become a natural part of my plein air method. I appreciate her remarks, the organizing effort of all those with Arts Connect, the camaraderie of the participating artists, the buyers (Scott and Paul), the indispensable support of my dearest partner — and you, reader, for visiting here and for reading all of this!

Onward to the next challenge!

 

Off Upper
plein air collage on canvas by J A Dixon
12 x 12 inches + handmade frame

•  Second Place Prize / S O L D

Posted in Collage, Constraints, D L Dixon, En Plein Air, Events, Exhibitions, Honors, Ingredients, J A Dixon, Landscape, Methodology, Technique | No Comments »

Best in Show: Sycamore Reach

Monday, January 11th, 2021

The sun was setting. Late November light penetrated the very top of a tall sycamore. It looked as if the tree was reaching up into the deep blue sky of autumn to capture the final rays.

The email notice stunned me for a moment. Sycamore Reach, my latest example of “painting nature with paper,” had been chosen for a top local prize. I knew I’d worked at the pinnacle of my abilities, and my fingers were crossed that it might be well received, but it was an unexpected thrill nonetheless. My surprise soon gave way to satisfaction, and I was left with the fullness of gratitude — a good place to be left.

Paint by Nature: Trees was a stimulating opportunity to bring into the studio everything that I learned from another season of plein-air outings. Using photos I took with a smartphone, my subject would be a grand American Sycamore that inhabits the median of Lafayete Parkway in Lexington. I’d looked at a few arboreal candidates during my research trip to the city, including a majestic Chinkapin Oak. There wasn’t much direct illumination left when I got to the sycamore, my last destination. The lighting turned out to be ideal for a reference image.

It’s a privilege to dedicate my creative effort to promoting the important role of trees and the priorities of Live Green Lexington. My appreciation to Jeanette Tesmer, Alice Hilton, plus everyone who helped organize this nature-inspired arts event — and especially to show judge Leah Castleman, an art educator, avid painter, and outdoors enthusiast.

The exhibition is located in the upstairs community gallery of the Pam Miller Downtown Arts Center through Friday, February 26, but the center is closed “until further notice due to red zone status of COVID-19.” You’re invited to take a Virtual Tour of the show, and think of me when you vote for People’s Choice!
 

Sycamore Reach
mixed media collage by J A Dixon
8 x 10.75 inches

•  Best in Show / People’s Choice / S O L D

Posted in Collage, Exhibitions, Honors, J A Dixon, Landscape | No Comments »

I finally help to “paint the town” of Lexington!

Friday, July 17th, 2020

 
Paint the Town is an annual plein-air-oriented landscape exhibition in Lexington, Kentucky. The parameters of the traditional twelve-hour event are strict, and I’ve always had the notion of it as a flat-out competition — sort of a bass tournament for artists, if I may indulge a silly exaggeration.
 
 
With the current societal restrictions having caused so many art shows to be postponed or cancelled, it’s a distinct credit to ARTSconnect that a way was found to make the event happen at all in 2020. The Pam Miller Downtown Arts Center reopened to host the exhibition. Many of the more stringent guidelines (and, sadly, all the hospitality enhancements) were stripped out of this year’s version.

I’m willing to admit that the relaxed standards were enough to convince me to take part, not having participated in this kind of gig before. I was eager to gather what I’ve learned from my plein-air experience and “paint with paper” in the studio. The goal was to fuse the spontaneity of working outdoors with a more deliberate process that I’ve explored by using photo references to create a larger landscape on panel. I can’t be more pleased with the results. I continue to incorporate white tissue for desired cloud effects, and I’ve come to rely on reclaimed teabag material as a beneficial adjunct to colored papers. I work at not overdoing tinted sealants, but the added depth is worth a cautious, mixed-media enhancement (especially when I mix acrylic gel medium with a rare portion of walnut juice from Richard Taylor).

Please take a Virtual Tour of the show. My 90-second sound bite is included, or you can listen to the audio by clicking here. Of course, there’s a YouTube video of all the artwork, too. My two collage miniatures enjoy some great company, and it pleases me to point out that juror Bruce Neville designated Byway Corner with an Honorable Mention. Current gallery hours at the Pam Miller Downtown Arts Center are Wed/Thurs/Friday, noon to 5pm. The show lasts until August 3, 2020.
 
 

Byway Corner
collage landscape by J A Dixon
7 x 7.125 inches
available for purchase

•  Honorable Mention

 

Along Market
collage landscape by J A Dixon
7 x 7.125 inches
available for purchase

Posted in 1) Available!, B Neville, Collage, Constraints, Events, Exhibitions, Honors, J A Dixon, Landscape, Links, R Taylor | No Comments »