The Peculiarity of Knowledge

Multimedia artist claims there’s not an art form she doesn’t like.

“A lot of who I am is where I came from,” says Jessica Stoddart, 32, who grew up in rural Tennessee, the daughter of artists.
“I was raised in a ‘Little House on the Prairie’ kind of way,” she says, recalling a childhood spent chopping wood and riding horses. “I love tools, but I’m also a girly girl.”

Just walking into Stoddart’s studio evidences her industrious side. There are no frilly rugs, no extraneous paint splatters, no pop-culture references, and for that matter, no knick-knacks of any kind manufactured in the 21st century. That’s not to say the studio lacks character — on the contrary: like her art, Stoddart and her studio exude a timeless elegance that embraces down-to-earth ethics and nostalgic aesthetics.

Located in the historic, former Biltmore Industries textiles complex near the Grove Park Inn, her work space resides among the cluster of cottage-like buildings now known as Grovewood Studios. Built in 1917, they have kept their stuccoed walls, casement windows and sloping roofs.

Back then, affirmations were painted onto the walls and ceilings of the cottages to motivate weavers. In 1934, Eleanor Roosevelt visited, and may have even walked through the room that Stoddart now uses. An inscription reads: “It is the peculiarity of knowledge that those who really thirst for it always get it.”

The space is inhabited by Stoddart’s easels, drawing tables, and, of course, her multi-media paintings. Large charcoal drawings of old-fashioned objects — tricycles, typewriters and chairs — are rendered on top of dress patterns that have been primed with various industrial colors, including chocolate brown, olive green, fire-engine red and slate gray. The lines of the patterns can be seen through the paint, complementing the sketches.

She began incorporating the paper dress patterns into her paintings about five years ago as a way to distinguish her work. “I’m constantly drawn to the masculine and the feminine in everything,” she says. “For me, the patterns seem feminine but have a masculine, architectural feel.”

Earlier paintings depict arrangements of old-style dress forms — an artifact Stoddart was compelled to draw because, she muses, “it’s not human and it’s not mechanical.” Two such vintage mannequins from the 1920s hang out in Stoddart’s studio these days; she still uses them in her work.

She also keeps an old wooden dollhouse, a relic that resembles a gutted suburban home circa 1970 (a sparser version of the house has made its way into a large red painting on wood). Another treasure is the collection of dolls crafted by her grandfather. She discovered them in his attic after his death — four wooden figures carved coarsely from two-by-fours with movable arms, and painted in colors remarkably similar to the hues Stoddart uses in her canvases.

“He had a very mechanical mind,” says Stoddart, who only knew her grandfather for the last 10 years of his life. “There were things laying out in his home that made me think, ‘I would have done something like that!’”

Her interest in building three-dimensional objects began when she was an art student at Austin Peay State University in Tennessee. She received a BFA in 2002 and went on to study architectural design and furniture at the renowned Penland School of Crafts near Burnsville, N.C. “There really isn’t an art form I don’t like,” remarks Stoddart. “My love for three-dimensional objects definitely influences my two-dimensional work.”

She says she found creative inspiration when she was studying the original Dadaists, known for their absurdist approach to art. “For them, the sky was the limit,” she says. “They taught me that really anything is possible, and that it’s okay to experiment.”
Stoddart exhibits her work at the Studios’ Grovewood Gallery; she also sells her paintings and prints nationally at fine art and craft fairs with the help of her husband, Jon Ladd.

The couple met 11 years ago while in college and were married last year. “Jon plays a huge role in all of this,” says Stoddart. “He’s my best friend. We work together, live together and travel together. He is integral to everything I do.”  

Visit www.jessicastoddart.com to see more of the work of Jessica Stoddart.

This article appears in the Winter 2010 issue of Carolina Home + Garden

www.carolinahg.com/Carolina-Home-Garden/Winter-2010/The-Peculiarity-of-Knowledge/

Artist Statement
In my current work I try to create excitement while ordering chaos. My paintings are comprised of subjects that are both realistic and abstract, on the edge between here and there. The work is a comment on both thinking and seeing, a study on trying to not see anything for itself alone, but as part of a whole.
My process is a mirror reflection of the finished piece with each step a part of a finished whole. The wood canvas is hand cut and crafted. Then each receives a series of treatments to apply a thin layer of paper texture before being oil primed. This particular series has an antique dress pattern layered in before I paint and sketch with pastels, charcoals and oil paints.

As important as I feel my process is my strength lies in understanding the relationship between light, composition, and design. I feel each finished work displays a distinctive and timeless nature. I strive for a design of harmonious essentials that outlast the subject matter and are both warm and emotionally expressive.

Artist Biography
Jessica Stoddart grew up on a rural farm in middle Tennessee.  The family home predated the civil war.  As the child of photographers, she spent much of her childhood on the road with her parents at art shows.

As she grew, Jessica developed her own love of art and found her own unique style.  For her hard work and creativity, she was awarded an art scholarship to Austin Peay University in Tennessee, where she worked for and earned her BFA in art.  Her college work focused on sculpture.

After college Jessica attended Penland School of Craft in Penland, North Carolina where she studied furniture craft and design.  

A trip to Asheville, North Carolina followed Penland, where Jessica purchased a home and became a Studio Artist at the Grovewood Gallery, near the Grove Park Inn.  She has had a studio there since 2005, and as a studio artist her works in Asheville are only shown at the Grovewood Gallery.

Jessica met her husband, Jon, while at Austin Peay University in 1999 and they have been together ever since.  Jon was with her during her moves through North Carolina and they were officially married in May of 2009 on her family’s' rural Tennessee farm.

During his time with Jessica, Jon learned the art of picture framing and giclee and reproduction printing.  He now does all of Jessica's printing and framing from their home work shop.

Jessica's first solo art festival with her current work was in Maggie Valley, North Carolina in 2005.  Jessica and Jon have been on the road together traveling the country and showcasing her art ever since.

Her current work is the culmination of all of her experience and work and was an epiphany in her art as it combines all elements of her skills and imagination.  Her art is in its very nature an attempt to create an excitement while controlling the chaos of combining the abstract and realistic.  A comment or study, if you will, on thinking and seeing.

Just as important as the creation, is the processing of creating, and Jessica's work is a mirror reflection of her process of creating; and all her sculpture and wood experience are used as Jessica hand crafts her wood canvases before she uses a processes she created to apply antique dress pattern, whose lines and designs she sees as her true canvas.

While her strength lies in her understanding of light, composition, and design, the warmth and expression of her work is the juxtaposition it creates in the eyes, mind and heart of the viewer.  A contrast of what is and isn't there, the old and forgotten against the new, the past against the present all of which creates a lasting future.  An unintended reflection on the struggles and triumphs of modern times.  An epiphany of creation.

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Jessica Stoddart spent her formative years traveling to art exhibits with her parents. Upon graduating high school she attended Austin Peay University where she graduated with honors, receiving a B.F.A. degree. In 2002 she relocated to North Carolina where she completed a concentrated study in furniture making and design at Penland School. She is currently residing in Asheville where she is a Studio Artist at the prestigious Grovewood Gallery.
The show she is currently traveling consists of several original paintings created with materials ranging from oil to charcoal and pastels. Her shellac finishes are reminiscent and well focused. Her subjects are contemporary with great texture and depth. Her creative process incorporates a unique conceptual process blending ideas that reflect beyond the decorative. Since the beginning her work has been considered important and collectable. The fact that she constantly evolves the traditional process is an indicator of things to come. To collect her is to invest in art that transcends décor.


John Murray
Free Life Gallery of Fine Art