Biography – Jennifer Moses

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Jennifer Moses recognized at an early age her need for artistic expression. Over the years she explored many art mediums including fine art photography, ceramics and various aspects of design before settling into painting as her focused medium. “Landscape painting cultivates my relationship with the honesty of nature and reveals itself in all aspects of my life, not just my work. My paintings are an expression of my experiences and I find myself on a never-ending journey of inquiry and observation. As the observer, I witness the details of what is before me and as the artist, I translate what I see and feel onto the canvases I paint. The process for me is a celebration of beauty and the interrelatedness of all things. My greatest desire is to communicate a meaningful, emotional connection through the visual poetry of painting.”

Jennifer attended Virginia Commonwealth University receiving a B.F.A in Art Education. After receiving her teaching certificate in 1991, she moved to New York City where she resisted settling into the classroom but rather, embarked on an exploration of art. In a little studio just north of Canal Street she focused on a series of large abstracted landscapes and figures. With her landscapes, she worked in a subtractive method by painting the canvas with color fields and then adding layers of white paint and glazes to the surface. As a result, she was left with negative shapes resembling spring colors budding through the snow. Her figures on the other hand were additive. Layers of paint applied with a palette knife gave the painting a rich, thick quality yet the forms were kept simple and expressive. At this time, Soho was dotted with art galleries and Jennifer had the opportunity to be involved in the city’s art scene. She exhibited in a few local venues and made friends with a several contemporary artists living in Brooklyn and lower Manhattan.

In 1994, Jennifer relocated to Ojai, California. The transition facilitated a shift into other creative outlets and venues. While renovating a historical 1909 Greene and Greene bungalow, she took courses in photography and worked in a ceramics studio nearby. In 1998, Jennifer started a business making large garden pottery inlaid with tiles inspired by a manufacturer of concrete forms during the early 1900’s. Being immersed in an environment rooted in the arts and antiques of this period, she became more intimately acquainted with the paintings of the Early California Impressionists. This new appreciation for impressionism sparked her desire to pick up the brush once again.

Although mostly self-taught in painting until this time, she met and began studying with David Gallup, signature artist member and vice-president of the California Art Club. Her time with David has brought a deeper understanding of color theory, composition and design to her work.

While the French and Early California Impressionists have continued to be a rich source of inspiration and learning, her recent focus has been on direct observation through plein air painting. Inspired by the charm of Ojai, the majestic California coastline and western landscape, Jennifer felt she had found a subject that resonated with the most basic aspects of truth and beauty. “It is the essence of a place that is at the core of all my work. From nature I extract a unique quality such as atmosphere or light to set the mood for my paintings. I may walk around or sit for a period of time until that quality revels itself and only then do I begin to paint. I often find that I am drawn to the intimate aspects of a landscape, a moment in time or a specific feeling that unfolds when I’m quiet.”

Jennifer is a signature member of the California Art Club and an artist member of Oil Painters of America. She is also a member of the Ojai Studio Artists, a non-profit arts organization where she recently served as president for three years. Her paintings have been exhibited at the Autry Museum, Fisher Museum and Pasadena Museum of California Art.

“Plein air painting cultivates my relationship with the honesty of nature. It is the essence of a place that is at the core of my work and I am often drawn to the more intimate aspects of a landscape, a moment in time or a specific feeling that unfolds when I’m quiet. I find myself on a never-ending journey of inquiry and observation. As the observer, I witness the details of what is before me and as the artist, I translate what I see and feel onto the canvases I paint. My greatest desire is to communicate a meaningful, emotional connection through the visual poetry of painting. The process for me is a celebration of beauty and the interrelatedness of all things.”