Janice Freeman: Capriccio

Janice Freeman

Capriccio



Janice Freeman

Capriccio

October 15–November 13, 2014

1

Melodic Mexico: The Panoramic Vistas of Janice Freeman by David S. Rubin

In the late 1930s, the Chilean Surrealist Roberto Like Matta, Freeman works from the abstract to the
Matta Echaurren introduced the term “psychological representational, only her process is more labor
morphology” to refer to his automatic drawings and intensive and complex in that it involves working
paintings that he viewed as landscapes of the mind. with many different mediums. After first treating a
Interested in the Jungian concept of a collective Masonite panel with colored gesso and sand, Freeman
unconscious, Matta usually began by making abstract prepares the pod areas by defining their edges
shapes and, via free association, let the images emerge with cold pressed etching papers and adding more
like they do in dreams—floating about in an amorphous colored sand gessoes. She then fills in each area by
space, and morphing from one thing to the next. cutting and gluing down fragments from images she
has produced in a variety of formats that include
Working from this tradition, Janice Freeman creates monotypes, sketches, Japanese silk cloths, marbled
large scale collage paintings that incorporate not papers, canvases, and smaller works on Masonite. As
only dream imagery, but account also for memory, the imagery begins to clarify and come to life, Freeman
observation, and the projection of wishes and finalizes each pod and binds one to another by
desires. Inspired by the everyday life and culture of drawing and rubbing with variously colored pigments.
Mexico, where Freeman has lived and made art for
over a decade, the artist creates panoramic vistas For the viewer, Freeman’s panoramic collage
populated with image saturated vignettes that she calls paintings may be enjoyed like viscerally charged
“pods.” Woven together within each panorama, treasure maps for excavation and discovery; and
these energetic thought bubbles are orchestrated through their lively and lyrical rhythms, these images
into undulating patterns that convey an expressive move our eyes melodically around a composition,
yet nonlinear narrative of a place full of intrigue and effectively simulating the very tempos of Mexico itself.
passion. With a keen eye for detail, very little has
escaped Freeman’s attention or imagination—from David S. Rubin is The Brown Foundation Curator of Contemporary Art
mariachis singing and youth romping about, to food at the San Antonio Museum of Art
for sale or to be consumed in a delicious meal, to the
enchanting varieties of plants, birds, and animals, to
the architectural or landscape peculiarities of a locale.

2

Colibri

3

A Day in the Park

4

Everything Goin’ On

5

6

Monotype #1 Monotype #2

7

Monotype #3 Monotype #4

Monotype #5 Monotype #6

8

Capriccio 1

9

The Precipice Aspect, or How to Turn Destruction Into Glor y:
Janice Freeman’s Capriccio Series by Marcia Brennan

Capriccio Numbers 1-5 (2012-14) form the Americana, and it’s like there is a part of me that
centerpiece of Janice Freeman’s mid-career is a Japanese tourist experiencing where I come
retrospective exhibition. In unique yet complementary from. You see that in the intense Japanese oil
ways, each painting represents a point of vision paint, and in the Magic Realism aspect. To capture
and contact that is elemental and emblematic. all of this, I’ve joked that the paintings should be
Painted in vivid Japanese oil pigments with gesso called Postcards From Hiroshima Gonzalez, Jr.”
on Masonite panel, these striking works are both
visually and symbolically distinctive from Freeman’s Each of the Capriccios displays a central landscape
previous artworks. When reflecting on the points with a shared compositional format, and a common
of origin of the Capriccio series, the artist noted: yet shifting set of features including themes of
transportation, the music of an animal who provides
I’m all about process. I was going through a “a serenading aspect of the painting,” and the central
soul change, and I was standing like an acrobat, figure of either a horse or a burro standing at the
balancing all the things in my life. I was especially edge of a steep precipice—a provocative figure of
looking at how, in life, things can go either way. motion caught in momentary stillness. Taken together,
That was the “precipice aspect”. I was also looking the series speaks to larger issues of transformation
at the things I fall in love with…Then I find my image. and creation, destruction and glory. Or as Freeman
I start compiling it, and I form the composition. I’m has put it, the paintings express processes of
interested in how to make depths and soul feelings “soul change” that gyrate in both depth and light.
and imagery into a single layer, so that it gyrates.*
Capriccio Number 1 features an image of home and
Both the artist’s paintings and her perspective are placement, yet the scene also has sharp edges and
complex and humorous. As Freeman remarks steep precipices. At the painting’s center, a sleeping
of this series, “This is South Texas and Mexican- white donkey stands poised at the edge of a river
inspired imagery, because that’s what I grew gorge. The donkey faces a parked camper which,
up with, and that’s what I know. There’s also according to the artist, represents “being safe and

10

Capriccio 2

11

nestling in to that environment, in that place. Perhaps is literally working her tail off, chopping wood and
I am sleeping inside the camper. When I painted carrying a bucket of water that also resembles paint.
this, we had recently moved to a new house, and we
had a great sense of place.” Hovering above the If Capriccio Number 1 is about the imagery of
landscape vignette is a bright green hummingbird earth and placement, Capriccio Number 2 engages
with a golden crown and a camera around his themes of communication and transmission, of flight
neck. The bird is a symbolic portrait of Freeman’s and broadcasting. This is a messenger painting and
husband, the distinguished photographer, filmmaker, its primary element is air—the air waves or etheric
and visual arts professor Geoff Winningham. medium on which sound travels. As the second work
Directly facing the hummingbird is a hawk, which in the series, this painting announces things to come.
“has always been a spiritual omen” for Freeman. Or, as Freeman notes, this painting is about “me being
more comfortable transmitting change.” Symbolically
The hawk and the hummingbird each carry one end engaging these themes, a bright red cardinal holds
of a blue filigree chain, at the center of which is an a golden radio that is “transmitting to the world.”
emblematic charm composed of pearls, rubies, and
sapphires. As Freeman notes, “These are all home Following the sight line downward, the bird’s
portraits. That’s where I began. Here, the hawk is tail feathers lead directly to the propeller of an
carrying the bejewel-ment of Geoff.” Extending these airplane that is piloted by a coyote smoking a
themes, in the upper right corner is an oyster with a cigar. As Freeman recalled, “My father had an
bright green pearl, which represents “a symbol of airplane. My grandmother always wanted to be a
surprise. That has to do with the finding of wealth. pilot, but she couldn’t, because at that time women
didn’t fly planes. But she paid for me to get my
I’ve been grateful and amazed by what’s been solo pilot license. We’re a flying family.” Facing
given to me. For me, green is fertility, and it is the the plane is a buckskin horse with a purple mane
color of the heart.” The artist herself also appears and tail standing above a cliff with a circular hole,
symbolically as a large, florid bird at the left side of an opening that represents “the passage through
the composition. This avian self-portrait began as a the precipice.” The horse turns away from the
hummingbird, but then transformed into a cardinal. cliff because “The horse has a curiosity about the
Perhaps serving as a harbinger who anticipates the announcements coming in, and he’s engaged. He’s
work that lay ahead in the Capriccio series, the bird no longer with the edge, but with the information.”

12

Capriccio 3

13

At the midpoint of the series is an image of a powerful figure of bones and fire. Freeman has
pronounced change, a painting featuring symbols of described the process of working with Japanese
oil paints as putting luminous flesh on the bones
creation and destruction. of what had seemed to her like otherwise skeletal
imagery. Reflecting these themes, the scorpion’s
Capriccio Number 3 is a fire painting, and it flaming tale gives rise to the florid form of an open
engages the dynamic imagery of transformation, gladiola, which also appears in an intense, flaming
destruction, and new growth. At the top, an eagle red. And in the passage where the two reds meet,
with outstretched wings spins three tops. According we find a space for “turning destruction into glory.”
to Freeman, “He’s spinning the worlds. In Mexico,
children play with tops. In the tops, you see the After all of this transformative work—all of this
colors of the landscape, and it takes you back to exertion and all of this fire—we have earned a rest.
your own childhood.” Adjacent to the eagle is a Capriccio Number 4 is an image of peace, joy, and
sleeping bull whose horns turn into a ladder, and relaxation; it is a scene of taking a breather by the
who thus serves as a “spiritually uplifting figure.” water. This humorous painting features various forms
The vehicle in this scene is a green and yellow of the rest and recreation that precede re-creation.
pick up truck, and at the edge of the landscape is In short, this is a painting on holiday. Dolphins
a white horse with a red mane and tale. Freeman perform tricks with the circus master, while a bright
has always had a “deep resonance with horses”. green parrot jauntily sports a propeller beanie. A hot
The horses are me, at the edge, where it’s all air balloon filled with clams floats above a volcano
happening. The horse represents total liberation.” whose smoky plume forms an exclamation point. The
vehicle in this painting is a Volkswagen bus, “the type
Opposite the horse is a hummingbird, who serves that you still see kicking in Mexico, a gypsy of the
as a “magical creature. I feel like hummingbirds fly road.” At the center of the scene is a burro carrying
here and there and they kind of know everything.” a rich fuchsia pack, and this figure too represents a
Directly above the hummingbird is a scorpion who symbolic self-portrait of the artist. The burro is about
holds a lighted match to the end of his stinger. Through “having abundance, having the goods to go fully
this bright orange flame, “the scorpion is lighting packed. The scene is a feeling of summer. It is the
the venom, and burning off the poison. It reflects feeling of the ocean, of a vacation in Mexico. There
personal change, and it’s the process of letting go.” is a humorousness, and a sense of sleeping it off.”
Indeed, the scorpion appears like a fleshless skeleton,

14

Capriccio 4

15

Reflecting on all that has emerged, Capriccio Capriccio Number 5 is—and yet it may not be—the
Number 5 appears as an image of conscious final painting in the series. Freeman notes that,
observation, a state of assessment and of acceptance.
“As I worked on the other [paintings], I got characters
A road through the desert winds through the center of and ideas that I really liked. I used them in the
this image, while along either side there appears a paintings, and they would lend themselves to new
silver-gray landscape that “quivers like water.” A red ideas. It’s all so interchangeable. It almost feels like
and white paint horse turns away from the precipice every part is me, and that something is resurfacing.
to drink from a pool of water; or as the artist notes, My latest work also feels like the deepest I’ve gone,
“It’s the ability to hydrate.” The paint horse faces a in a symbolic way. I’ve just been thrilled to be doing
black jaguar with a gold medallion around his neck this work, to chop the wood, carry water, and love
who sits in a hot rod, taking everything in. The jaguar it every minute.There was a part of me that didn’t
observes the scene while stopping for some shade. want the series to end. And, I don’t think it has.”
“He’s relaxed, silky, and catlike. He’s comfortable
with being on the road alone.” Among the sights the
jaguar observes is a carnivorous plant, a fly eating
star cactus that mirrors the sense of “carnivorous
suction” emanating from a tornado at the top of the
painting. This dark funnel cloud carries away a
house and a truck, and the storm comes “when the
house is disrupted.” In this scene, the destructive
tornado is still in the process of sucking up a
bathtub where rubber ducks float innocently on the
water. According to Freeman, “this painting feels
comfortable, but you know that things can be taken
away from you. This painting is about feeding and
entertainment, and a fragility that feels like the past.
There is disruption at the top, and tranquility and
nurture at the center.” Meawnwhile, the black jaguar
witnesses everything and displays comfort with all of it.

16

Capriccio 5

17

Precipice Details

18

19

Works Monotype #4 Capriccio 5 Raven with Ring
24”x 20” 48” x 72” 20” x 16”
Colibri Ink and oil Ink and oil Encaustic on wood panels
Two panels 2012 2014 2013
54” x 24” each
Collage, sand gesso, pastel and Monotype #5 Precipice Details UFO Hummingbird
metal leaf on hardboard panel 24”x 20” 20” x 16”
2009 Ink and oil Budgie with Yoyo Encaustic on wood panels
2012 20” x 16” 2013
A Day in the Park Encaustic on wood panels
Two panels Monotype #6 2013 Fishing Sheep
96” x 36” each 24”x 20” 20” x 16”
Collage, sand gesso, pastel and Ink and oil Javelina with Top Hat Encaustic on wood panels
metal leaf on hardboard panel 2012 20” x 16” 2013
2009 Encaustic on wood panels
Capriccio 1 2013 Wood Burro with Glider
Everything Goin’ On 48” x 72” 20” x 16”
30’ x 4’ Ink and oil Horse with Tire Swing Encaustic on wood panels
Collage, sand gesso, pastel and 2014 20” x 16” 2013
metal leaf on hardboard panel Encaustic on wood panels
2009 Capriccio 2 2013
48” x 72”
Monotype #1 Ink and oil Love Birds
24”x 32” 2014 20” x 16”
Dryer lint and oil Encaustic on wood panels
2013 Capriccio 3 2013
48” x 72”
Monotype #2 Ink and oil Match Venom
24”x 32” 2014 20” x 16”
Dryer lint and oil Encaustic on wood panels
2013 Capriccio 4 2013
48” x 72”
Monotype #3 Ink and oil
24”x 20” 2014
Ink and oil
2012

20

21

Biography

Janice Freeman was born in Austin, Texas and spent most of her early youth
in Pharr, Texas growing up along the Texas-Mexican border. She moved
to Houston for high school and graduated from the High School for the
Performing and Visual Arts.After receiving her undergraduate degree
from the University of Texas, Freeman moved to Dallas and went to work
professionally, first in the art department of a large advertising agency,
then for an architectural firm, doing large-scale painting and restoration
work. In the early 1990’s, she exhibited at the Edith Baker Gallery, the
Dallas Museum of Art, and the d’Cada Gallery in Madrid, while presenting
frequent independent shows in her Hickory Street studio. In 1996 she
lived briefly in Los Angeles, where she established a relationship with
Paragon Gallery, then lived in a small town in the Mexican mountains, Mineral de Pozos where she still
maintains a working studio and summer school for the children of the town. She presently lives in Houston.
Freemanhasworkedinavarietyofmediaovertheyears,includinglargescalecollage,painting,etching,monotype,
bronze casting, limestone sculpture, encaustic and found objects. Her work has appeared in films such as Spy
Kids (2002). 2001 thru 2004 was a period of designing architectural interiors, furniture, fountains and exterior
sculptures for private residencies. Freeman’s most recent works are large-scale oil paintings on panel,w and
in 2014 she has again begun work on the designs of private residencies, summer workshops and print making.

22

Select Solo Exhibitions

2014 Studio, Houston, Texas 1994

Intervals- “Capriccio”, Lone Star 2001 “Rites of Spring” Edith Baker Gallery,
College, Kingwood, Texas Dallas, Texas
“Objects in the Earth” Galleria 6,
2012 Guanajuato, Mexico 1993

“Janice Freeman”, Gallery Nord, San 1998 “Garden Series” Womens’ World
Antonio, Texas Exposition, Dallas, Texas
“Time Lines” Koelsch Gallery, Houston,
2010 Texas 1992

“Historias, Suenos y Travesias”, “Large Panels” Casa Mexicana, “Architectural Elements” Hickory Street
Museum of Queretaro, Queretaro, Guanajuato, Mexico Annex, Dallas, Texas
Mexico
“February Angel” Koelsch Gallery, “Icey Places,” Art House, Dallas, Texas
2006 Houston, Texas “Horses” Fair Park Coliseum” Dallas,
Texas
“Bottles, Wires and Cans” Galleria Del 1997
Centro, Guanajuato, Mexico “Monotypes of a Texan” d’Cada
“After the Birth Come the Stories” Galleria, Spain
“Luz De Maguey” Galleria Del Centro, Summer Street Studio, Houston Texas
Guanajuato, Mexico 1991
1995
2005 “Corridas” Madrid Gallery, Dallas,
“One Woman, One Night Only” Texas
“Open Studio #1” Studio, Guanajuato, -Susan G. Komen Foundation Benefit
Mexico thru Vary Magazine, Dallas, Texas 1985

2004 “Adios” Hickory Street Annex, Dallas, “Final Show” University of Texas
Texas Gallery, Edinburg, Texas
“Open Studio #2” Studio, Guanajuato, “The Circus Series” The Call
Mexico Corporation, Dallas Texas

2000 “Sand Paintings” The Dallas Design
Center, Wendy Krispin Showroom,
“Seventy five Pieces” Summer Street Dallas, Texas

23

Select Group Exhibitions

2014 “Artists of Pergola”, Pergola Gallery, Art, Houston, Texas
Guanajuato, Mexico
“The Brandon”, The Brandon, Houston, “Small Works” Koelsch Gallery,
Texas 2007 Houston, Texas

“Art Bridge 2014”, Betty Moody “Regional Group” Galleria 6, 2001
Gallery, Houston Texas Guanajuato, Mexico
“Cow Parade” The Houstonian,
“Hunting Art Prize Finalist Show”,Toyota “Recent Works” Pergola Gallery, Houston, Texas
Center, Houston Texas Guanajuato, Mexico
2000
2013 “Variantes” Pergola Gallery,
Guanajuato, Mexico “Beaux Art” Museum of Fine Art,
“Recent Acquisitions”, San Antonio Dallas, Texas
Museum of Art, San Antonio,Texas 2006
“Pozos Show” Casa Mexicana,
Group Show of 13, Gallery Nord, San “Animals” Koelsch Gallery, Houston, Guanajuato, Mexico
Antonio Texas Texas
1999
“Reatblos”Lawndale , Houston, Texas “Bailey Banks and Biddles” Houston
Galleria, Houston, Texas “Small Works” Koelsch Gallery,
2008 Houston, Texas
2005
“Hunting Art Prize Finalist Show”-The “Way Cool Benefit” Koelsch Gallery,
decorative Center, Houston Texas “Leaves” Aspen Gallery, Guanajuato, Houston, Texas
Mexico
“El Groupo”, Galleria 6, Guanajuato, 1998
Mexico “1st Pozos Walk” Open Studio,
Guanajuato, Mexico “Art Crawl” Nancy Worthington Fine
“The 37th International Juried Show” Art” Houston, Texas
Museum of Fine Arts of Brownsville, “2nd Pozos Walk” Open Studio,
Brownsville, Texas Guanajuato, Mexico 1997

“Place in the Sky” Galleria 6, 2003 “Two Visions: Winningham and
Guanajuato, Mexico Freeman” Galleria SM., Guanajuato,
“Rodeo Time” Nancy Worthington Fine Mexico

24

“H.S.P.V.A. Celebrating Twenty Five “Fin de Ciecle” Hickory Street Annex, “Great Homes and Studios,
Years”, A Juried Exhibition at Diverse Dallas, Texas Shermakaye Bass, International Herald
Works, Houston, Texas Tribune, 2007
1991
1995 “Best of City,”, Sharon Wong, San
“Two People” Exhibit Gallery, Dallas, Antonio Magazine, 2006
Edith Baker Gallery, Dallas Texas Texas
“The Something of Nothingness,”
1993 1986 Teresa Martinez, La Attencion, October,
2006
“Fin de Ciecle” Hickory Street Annex, “Outstanding Group Concept”
Dallas, Texas University of Texas Gallery, (award) “El Maguey,” Teresa Martinez, La
Edinburg, Texas Atencion, January, 2005
1991
Select Bibliography “Texas Childrens’ Hospital Benefit,”
“Two People” Exhibit Gallery, Dallas, Bailey Banks and Biddle Fundraising
Texas “Curator Choice :Pattern and Catalog, 2005
Decoration”, David Rubin, San Antonio,
1986 Texas, 2013 “Listen to a Lyric on Life,” The
Buddacrush CD (cover), 2004
“Outstanding Group Concept” “Texas Gallery Talk-New
University of Texas Gallery, (award) Acquisitions”,David Rubin, San “Cow Parade Houston,” Jerry Elbaum,
Edinburg, Texas Antonio, Texas, 2013 Cow Parade Houston, 2001

1997 “Reclaming Our History (and Local “Official Cow Parade Houston,”
Artists)”Scott Andrews, Current, San Houston Chronicle, 2001
“Two Visions: Winningham and Antonio,Texas, 2011
Freeman” Galleria S.M.,Guanajuato, “Lone Star Round-Up,” Joe Kress,
Mexico “Artist’s Love of Mexico Pours Forth Rodders’ Journal#23, 2000
From Her Work” ,Steve Bennett, MYSA,
“H.S.P.V.A. Celebrating Twenty Five 2011 “Establishing Shots,” Robert Rodriguez,
Years” A Juried Exhibition at Diverse Spy Kids 1, 2000
Works, Houston, Texas ”The Pozos Children’s Project at the
Witliff”, Austin American Statesman, “Depressing Lantana,” Franny Koelsch,
1995 2008 Art News, 2000

“Plant Forms”, Edith Baker Gallery, “Great Homes and Studios,”, “One Women, One Night Only,”
Dallas, Texas Shermakaye Bass, New York Times, Ceslie Armstrong, Vary Magazine,
November, 2007 1995
1993

25

“Beaux Art Review,” Nancy Duncan, Mexican Photography, San Marcos, Collections
Dallas Museum of Modern Art, 1999 2008
Available upon request
“Summer Street Studio Opening,” Mark “The Pozos Children’s Project” The Jung
Basurto, Houston Chronicle, 1999 Center, Houston, Texas 2008 Education

“Alternative Art Spaces,” Shermakaye Studio Encaustic Workshops, 2007 Rice University Extended Studies Print
Bass, Dallas Morning News, 1995 making
River Oaks Elementary Children’s
“Uplifting Undertaking,” Janet Tyson, Project, Six Large Paintings, 2008 University of Texas, BFA- Major in Fine
Fort Worth Star Telegram, 1994 Arts, Minor in Radio and Television
City of the Children Monotype
“Briefly..”Jon Lagow, Detour Magazine, Workshop, 2002 High School for the Performing and
Los Angeles, 1991 Visual Arts
Other Americas Summer Workshops
“Picture Perfect,” Eric Stoltz, Dallas with Geoff Winningham, (Drawing and
Observer, 1990 Photography), 2002

Select Workshops / Other Americas Summer Workshops
Honors/Non-Profit Work with Geoff Winningham and Sally Gall,
(Drawing and Photography), 1999
Houston Grand Opera Outreach
Program- 2012 Other Americas Summer Workshops
with Geoff Winningham and
The Pozos Art Project 2008 thru 2014 John Szarkowski,(Drawing and
– working in Mexico Photography), 1998

“The Pozos Art Project” The Brandon, U of H Monotype Class with Liz Ward
Houston, Texas, 2014 1998

“The Pozos Art Project”-Gallery Nord, Other Americas Summer Workshops
San Antonio, Texas, 2010 with Geoff Winningham, Drawing and
Photography), 1996
“The Pozos Art Project”-Museum of
Queretaro, Queretaro, Mexico, 2009 Lamont Wilcox Full Talent Scholarship,
1986, 1985, and 1984
“The Pozos Children’s Project” The Bill
Witliff Collection of Southwestern and

26

Thanks to:
Geoff Winningham

Randall McCabe
LSC-Kingwood Media and Jason Watson
LSCK TV: Garrick Joubert, Edwin Brega, Dan Ko

Photography: Diana Sorensen
Pamela Clarke: Manager of Designs in Print

Graphic artist: Maria V. Valarino
Lone Star College-Kingwood Art Gallery

Mon-Thur 11am-5pm
20000 Kingwood Drive
Kingwood, TX 77339

281-312-1534
[email protected]

http://www.lonestar.edu/arts-kingwood.htm