After looking forward to it for many years, I had my Senior UNCA Art Exhibit, titled 'She/Iteration' in November 2013.  It was held in the Asheville Community Theatre lobby.  The paintings are all acrylic paint, which is my favorite paint medium.  

Detail of  'Mis-taken,' 2013

'The Upside,' 2013, 24"x48"

'Evolution,' 2013, 24"x48"

'Frenzy,' 2013, 48"x36"

'Raw,' 2013, 24"x48"

Artist Statement
by Annie Jewett



My acrylic painting series She/Iteration is a convergence of decorative elements of pattern and repetition together with mostly gray-scale images of women. By creating an ornamental design as a background for my paintings of mirrored or doubled female figures, I examine both the depth and flow of women's actions and emotions as well as aspects of the term 'feminine'.

I have always had a deep rooted connected to communities of women that I've known throughout my life. Ever since I was quite young, I've found myself surrounded by the company of other women: at home, with friends and family, at work and at school. I've always been intrigued by the multi-dimensionality of women's personalities. In both the lightest and silliest of moments, as well as deeply spiritual moments, or times of sadness and pain, I've witnessed both first and second-hand that women's emotions and actions are always in flux.

Being deeply inspired by the artwork of both Gustav Klimt and William Morris, I find that the decorative components of art are very intriguing and have become quite important in my own artwork. Because of that, I begin my composition by first designing and painting a repetitive wallpaper-like pattern that fills the canvas. Then, using photographs that I've taken or found as a reference point for my figures' facial expressions and posture, I decide how to place the figures within the space. I usually double the figure in order to focus on the duality and complexity of women. The two elements, the background and figure, are designed and painted separately in a sort of collaging manner.

My hope is that this small body of work is enjoyed by the viewer as a decoration that references interior spaces as well as being a study of the female figure in ever-changing flux.

These pieces were done in 2012-2013

I was so lucky to be a part of a NCAEA (North Carolina Art Education Association) Encaustic workshop this weekend at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee.  

About 20 Art educators gathered together and learned how to do Encaustic painting and how we could use this knowledge in our own classrooms.

I learned a lot and am really excited about the possibility of doing a small Encaustic class at camp this summer with the older campers.
The process is really interesting, basically you paint layers of wax and then heat them to fuse them together.  You can paint, scrape, collage, imprint the wax.  

After a short instruction, we all had the opportunity to spend almost two hours playing and creating.  It was super cool to be a part of this group and watching all of these artists just make art.  Everyone has such different styles and took different approaches to using the Encaustic.  For me personally, it was a somewhat freeing experience because I am so used to painting 'realistic' portraits of people and wallpaper designs.  With encaustic, it really lends itself to making abstract designs, and so that is what I did.  It really felt nice!

This was the final result for my Encaustic triptych that I created. It was super fun!  I can't wait to try it again soon hopefully.