JENNIFER NOLAN: Bringer of joy, wonder and beauty | Visual Arts | Savannah News, Events, Restaurants, Music

Artist Jennifer Nolan satisfies me at the door of her comfortably funky Talahi Island home she shares with husband and fellow painter Bernard Nolan, and her five—yes, five—sons ranging from 7 to 18 many years of age. Tall, athletic, tanned, and wanting entirely too youthful to have an 18-12 months-old, she qualified prospects me into the sunny facet porch in which she and her husband paint aspect by facet. (The pair fulfilled in artwork university He paints urban scenes and landscapes and demonstrates at Reynolds Gallery).

I am right here to focus on Nolan’s approaching show at Spot Gallery which opens this Friday, July 15. 

As generally, grasp curator and wordsmith Peter Roberts, has created both equally a intelligent title and a deserving nonprofit to be the receiver of the gallery’s revenue. 

“Walk Operate Swim Fly” features an array of winged, finned, and furred creatures and added benefits The Ossabaw Island Foundation.

Nolan grew up in New Jersey and attended SCAD “sight unseen” in the late 90’s at the advice of her higher faculty college or university counselor. 

“SCAD was a fantastic healthy for me,” she states. “It was wonderful when you are a innovative man or woman and you are often the odd ball, to arrive to art university exactly where everyone’s an oddball. And Savannah’s that way much too. I experience like folks are so resourceful and so intriguing here.”

Graduating in 1999 with a BFA in Illustration, Nolan states her major encompassed equally painting and drawing competencies, but also enabled her to inform a tale. Electronic art and desktops have been turning out to be a lot more commonplace by then, but, she says, “I’m not a computer system individual. I like paint. I like the seem of the pencil and brush scraping on the paper. I like the tactile high-quality. I like the scent.”

Nolan became immersed in great art after graduation, functioning and displaying in the sorely missed artwork gallery owned by Irene Mayo in the Sandfly neighborhood of Savannah. 

“I did a great deal of pet portraits then,” she says, “But after our first little one was born we moved to Atlanta for 14 many years to be nearer to relatives. I entered a great deal of competitions and reveals in Atlanta and did some pop-ups, but my focus was on caring for tiny young children!”

Returning to Savannah four several years back (and shopping for her home as she had decided on her college or university – sight unseen), Nolan is effective a single working day a 7 days with Irene Mayo in Reynolds Sq. Gallery, and paints six evenings a 7 days in her studio soon after her smaller small children are in bed. In addition to her illustration in Reynolds Sq., she participates in Place Gallery exhibits when invited, has the occasional pop-up (glance for her at October’s Isle of Hope Art and Music Competition), but operate primarily on commission items. 

Presently, she is ending paintings of a shell, a horse, and a pair of canine portraits left about from Xmas commissions, while, of system, busily creating clean function for “Walk Run Swim Fly.”

Nolan is thrilled that gallery proceeds will advantage the Ossabaw Island Basis as, “My perform does have a concentration on conservation of each flora and fauna. It is a great tie-in.” 

She finds it tricky to articulate how she chooses her subjects… In her studio, I see paintings of whales, a moose, a lovely bee, numerous birds, and a little, merely rendered portrayal of a Texan longhorn to which I’m specifically drawn. She claims she’ll go to Oatland Island and choose photos of the owls and the animals, or, in the circumstance of the longhorns, visit a farm in west Ga, but largely, her really practical paintings are produced just after researching numerous reference photos and conducting significantly internet investigation, striving to piece together the most effective way to illustrate the certain animal, fish, bird, or insect she has picked.

Nolan’s chosen mediums are watercolor and gouache, supplemented by “these excellent watercolors that have organic mica in them so there’s a very little bit of sparkle.” 

For the very first time, parts for this exhibit integrate silver and gold leaf, as perfectly as plants she has foraged from her personal backyard. “I print with the genuine flower or leaf,” she states, as she exhibits me an exquisite portray of a flamingo where the background structure was manufactured by dipping papyrus leaves into gold. Other pictures incorporate dahlias and sunflowers the track record of a modest painting of a raven is dotted with amaranth bouquets one particular of a coyote has bamboo stalks at the rear of him. 

“So, this new type is really layering a large amount of my loves… The wildlife…The outdoors…The designs of the printing system.”

Nolan’s display has more than 25 items of assorted dimensions. All are varnished and UV shielded – a contemporary and lighter different to the traditional way of displaying watercolors behind glass. When I inquire her to talk about one particular or two of her favorites, she responds, “I just can’t. It is like choosing a favored little one! And some of them are still in the works.” She explains that she paints the creature, but then appears to be at it for a although prior to deciding what wants to be tweaked or included. 

“Like, I’m very positive I’ll increase some wisteria to the weasel, but I have to come to feel that out and sit with that for a bit.”

Dwelling near to the marsh, Nolan hopes she has instilled a feeling of exploration and adore of the purely natural earth in her boys. 

“There are bugs all about this household! I have curiosity cupboards. We all obtain stuff. We will take our boat to a tiny island and expend hrs combing it for enamel or minimal animals, and just observing.”

It is this perception of joy and question and magnificence that Nolan wants to share via her paintings. 

“I assume that is some thing which is a small misplaced in the entire world correct now. We have all been a little bit on edge these previous couple of years and we’re losing sight of the points we appreciate,” she states. “People hook up with items that are wonderful and full of speculate. Like that bee’s eyeball for example,” as she factors to her painting, “You can get misplaced in there. I hope people will make that relationship and get misplaced in the surprise.”

“Art can seriously help the world. We all need extra internal time A time to value matters. Art provides a pause. It is a great connector, no make any difference the place we stand on political concerns. All people stops and looks at a stunning sunset or appreciates a deer with a little one. My target is to contact people that way.”

The opening reception for “Walk Run Swim Fly” is Friday, July 15 from 6-8pm at Place Gallery, 251 Bull Road. Comply with Spot Gallery at locationgallery.net and on Instagram @locationgallery and observe Nolan at JenniferNolanArt.com and on Instagram @jen.jen.nolan. The clearly show runs by means of the stop of August and gallery proceeds will profit the Ossabaw Island Basis.