Jill Vaughn

I love the soft and sometimes harsh lines that are made with a simple stroke of a pencil. I then add color inspired from what is right outside my window. A torn piece of paper is placed as if a leaf fell randomly onto my paper. While drawing, I’m aware of how nature has sacrificed for me and how I touch nature in return, sometimes tenderly, other times not so. Where I have walked and placed my mark, and where others have walked, all become a part of the story.
Inevitably, an environment is revealed with multiple layers — roots intertwine, moss lays down a blanketed cover, a twig interrupts. I want to connect to the multiple layers that are revealed and create a balance between my actions and my environment.
These painted drawings are searching for that connection.
A kind of chaotic balancing act is under way. 

Jill’s website is here

Biography

Jill Vaughn is a visual artist and painting instructor. She earned her Bachelors in Fine Art from the Rhode Island School of Design where she majored in painting with concentrations in drawing and printmaking; she earned her Masters Degree in Education with concentrations in Multiple Intelligence's from the University of Saint Josephs in Hartford. She studied independently in Rome, Italy, and exhibits actively in Connecticut and with Gallery One CT, an artist cooperative, in where she is the curator in charge of exhibitions. Her work is in numerous collections including the Pfizer Corporation, Quinnipiac College, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, the Middlesex Emergency Clinic, and The U.S. Trust Corporation. Ms. Vaughn was the President of the Essex Art Association and former council member. Since 1999, she has been the Art Department Head at the Oxford Academy teaching art and photography to high school students. Ms. Vaughn has also taught watercolor painting at the Wesleyan University's Green Street Art Center in Middletown.

Gallery One Featured Artist: Interview with Jill Vaughn

 G1: You have a new exhibit “Her Season” now on view which includes several works that have hands drawn in them. What inspired the hands?

Jill: I have long thought about how we touch Nature and what better way to describe this action than to actually draw my own hands literally doing this. Another idea that intrigues me is how artists throughout history have always touched their art. While making with my hands, I feel a direct connection to these artists and part of a lineage that dates back to antiquity. 

 G1: In the Her Season exhibit, your artist statement includes a reference to the “gift economy. What do you mean by that?

 Jill: This question could be better answered by author an environmental activist, Robin Wall Kimmerer. But I will try to make a stab at it. When a gift is given, one is grateful for the received item or gesture, and for the generosity of the giver. In return, the receiver of the gift often wants to reciprocate this act of kindness. When these actions of generosity are part of a culture, a community becomes strengthened and generosity and gratitude prevails.

Likewise, when Nature gifts us a plentiful crop, and man and animals take only what is needed, the excess is returned to the earth. There is no waste. This process of regeneration is what drove Teosinte and the Feminine and Seeded Harvest. In a consumer driven economy, gratitude is not a consideration in the exchange. There is no need to give back to Nature for a jug of clean water or a carton of eggs purchased miles from its source. In this type of transaction, Nature is considered a commodity for profit and the concept of reciprocity and gratitude is usually missing from the equation.

 G1: How has your art evolved over the years?

 Jill: My earlier work was mostly beautifully rendered landscapes done en plein air. I’m still very fond of these pieces, but as I grow older, I feel the need to say more about what is going on both nationally and locally — especially with respect to the environment and other topical issues that concern me. My art is a natural platform for me to voice how I feel about these things and to hopefully help bring about positive change.