Joy Pepin

Portland, Oregeon

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       Joy and I first bonded over our love for fitness and soon after we realized that we had a lot in common. As our friendship developed, we soon discovered our shared love of modern art and formed a creative connection. Over the last several years, we have continued to cultivate this friendship through our like-minded admiration of art. Throughout this time, Joy has purchased many of my pieces of art. Joy describes her fondness and appreciation for them in this wonderfully descriptive and personal way:

 

       "When Susan and I were first getting to know each other, she was working a lot with wax and making really fascinating work via the encaustic medium. I had been doing a lot of watercolor and pastel work. We shared photos of our work with each other and eventually she invited me over to her studio. We spent many hours perusing her work and talking about our interests, ideas, and desires. That was a lovely day and one we've repeated a few times since. 

 

       Over the past few years I have purchased several of Susan’s pieces. One of the things that stands out for me in many of the landscape paintings, is the feeling of a pregnant emptiness...an abstract, conceptual sort of feeling that emanates from the concrete forms and composition. It's not just the feeling that one could walk right into the painting, but more so is that the painting sucks one into it through a kind of osmosis. One of her more recent works we own, Unprecedented, has this quality, in spades, insofar as the smoke dominates the composition and serves as the foremost embodiment of the blanketed forest. The feel of the painting is of a forest about to burst.  In this case, space is seemingly canceled by the smoke, and yet, the presence of the fire and of the forest that it is wracking it are so much bigger than the work appears. It's like the painting doesn't end at the edges of the canvas. It has this slippery ability to suck one into its inner space.

 

       In our conversations, Susan and I have had opportunities to discuss some of the challenges we have faced in life; she has experienced her share of adversity, both physical and emotional. Out of the pieces of hers that I own, my personal favorites are a series of crows. There's so much that could be dwelled on in terms of technique, composition, depth, and space; for me, the thing that speaks to me most is the juxtaposition of beauty and angst...suffering and enlightenment. It may be cliche to float too much on the historic symbolism of crows and ravens and their perceived association with dark, mysterious, and even macabre topics and subject matter; I personally have a difficult time avoiding these types of associations. I also have a hard time avoiding the awareness of the more dissatisfying aspects of life and existence. The crows have the feel of a measured sort of accounting. Perhaps these are just my own idiosyncratic tendencies, but to me they suggest a deliberate tarrying with the unpleasant qualities of life; the arrival of an awareness and appreciation that truly seeing what is in front of one’s eyes is the essence of beauty. In that respect, death is the limit that allows for the existence of beauty, artistic endeavors, and the coming to terms with the chaos that envelops life. In my life, I tend to feel as if I am the only one who is unperturbed by the shadow side...the darker side of things. It was in meeting Susan and engaging with her work that I understood I was not alone in these sentiments; our like-minded views of life and art have led me to the gratitude that comes from finding a kindred spirit.”