ARTIST SKETCH                                    -                              JEAN POSUSTA

If only I could see as you see.  Our psychologies are not mutually aligned, as in, ‘You heard it differently than I said.’  Our individual historical, imputical, and hexing visionary attributes see my dabs of pigment unalike.  We freely search for a scene once embraced - never the same in either of us.  Were you compelled to look?  Did you forget hunger or a worry?  Perhaps a musing ponderance washed over.  That is the purpose of art.  A teasing.  Even if it is hanging over a couch.

My work is a reflection of my God given focal values and eccentricities.  If I can represent definable nature from my palette to your senses, we have accomplished a connective communication.

Talents mystify me.  An interior designer friend and I felt our God purpose was iffy; till someone said, “God would want His beauty gratifying the senses, even in a reprojected image by human architects.”

A favorite artist, Monsieur Claude Monet, painted a ‘wink in time’, frustrated by sunlight & shade constantly eluding his canvas with the next moment.  I paint to come close to catching winks of nature in a representational acrylic image.

I began in cartoon sketches of Snoopy and Grandpa Charlie.  Jr. High essays and reports garnered B’s because much research time was dedicated to the report cover!  In my now second chapter of painting I regale the magnificence of nature.  I see texture, tones, symmetry, patterns, shadows in the black and white of aspen trees and the purple hours of depth in mountains valleys; I search for burnt umber in a stone in a creek.  Golden orange in autumn trees bedazzles me.  Intrigue in animal eyes, the variations and lay of fur, hypnotize.  Close encounter with my art often leaves one’s soul stranded, it is in the nebulous senses where the sanguine image lies.

Acrylics afford me the blended dimensions and quick dry I desire.  I will go hours without food or water, caught in a pipeline to tranquility, finishing a piece in one session.   Occasional inspiration involves framed clay sculpture or adorning gimcracks find their way among my wide strokes.  Paintings are often 2 or 3 feet wide on repurposed surfaces, wood and canvas.  Bears, wolves and horses are popular depictions.

First appearing in national media as an author (the latest: Hope We Don’t Go to Paulette’s Again Soon); my research has led to enmeshment and speaking on social and ethical issues.   Fall/Winter includes directing groups thru performing Murder Mysteries with MontanaFunAdventures.

A lifelong artist, I have been in Billings 10 years; retired from a career in social services, instructed at Montana State University Billings, and volunteer actively as a docent at the Yellowstone Art Museum, among other humanitarian interests for people in need.

Local inspirations (beside Montana!) are Ted Waddell, Harry Koyama, and Kira Fercho.   Art on my walls includes Bev Doolittle and Charles Peterson, camouflage painters.

Exhibition List

Windy Flats Gallery, Nye, Montana 4 Years, 2014-2018 (2019 Summer)

TimeSquare Furniture, 2 years, 2017, 2018, Current

Art Walk, Billings, 7 Locations,  2014-2019

Coffee Tavern, First Congregational Church, Sunrise Studio, Real Deals, Local Craft Shop

YAM Juried Show, 2017

Consignment Art in various homes

YWCA Art Show, Marshalltown, Iowa, 2 Years, 1987-88

Tama, Local Iowa Art Shows, several years  1985-1990

Second Time Around Store, (recycled  canvas show) Grinnell, Iowa  1990

Belle Plaine, local Iowa Art Show  2000

 

BIO

Jean has created her entire life, painting throughout.   Her work varied broadly – backdrops for theater performances, sign creation, and florals.  As a wedding coordinator for a large span of years, bridal and altar bouquets and table tops were her specialty.  Natural grasses and flowers plus silk arrangements filled her palette for a large part of her life.  

 

First appearing in national media as an author (the latest: Hope We Don’t Go to Paulette’s Again Soon); her research has led to enmeshment and speaking on social and ethical issues.   Fall/Winter includes directing groups thru performing Murder Mysteries with MontanaFunAdventures.

A lifelong artist, Posusta has been in Billings 10 years; retired from a 37 year career in social services, instructed at Montana State University Billings, and volunteers actively as a docent at the Yellowstone Art Museum, among other humanitarian interests for people in need, working with women at YWCA, Angela’s Piazza, Yellowstone Women’s Prison and Passages, as well as through many church groups.  Her involvement also includes support and volunteering with Multiple Sclerosis group, Suicide Prevention, and death and dying workshops.

Local inspirations (beside Montana!) are Ted Waddell, Harry Koyama, and Kira Fercho.   Art on her walls includes Bev Doolittle and Charles Peterson, camouflage painters.