JazWorks

Jill Zaheer's JAZWORKS: A Tapestry of Mixed Media, Painting, Collaborations, Photography, and Poetry

Saturday, July 26, 2014

I Found a New App!

I know I am a bit slow when it comes to catching up with all the art apps currently out there- okay, any art app out there,  but so happy I just found this one- Fotor  on my iPhone while on my way to work.  Here are a few of my first starters with pictures ( many of which you may have already seen) from my phone.  Can't wait to create some new collages with some of my favorite photos from my computer!




WhAt an aMAzing tool.

 I would love to hear what  your favorite art apps are!  
  
ThAnks so much for taking the time to visit- it's tremendously appreciated. 
 It's bEen A While since I've bEEn able to have consistent posts- but hope to be able to share  my wOrk much more oftEn!

***

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Welcome to the BlogHop!

I was recently asked by Canadian artist  Veronica Funk 
 to participate in a blog hop and I was overjoyed to do so!

  Currently,   Veronica  is  working on a new exhibit for August titled " Sacred Space" which entails acrylic painting on canvas and features the landscape of her youth in Northern Canada. She's also finishing up a couple of articles for publication in the fall as well as working on an online workshop.  Several years ago, I participated with Veronica  and 4 other  talented artists in an altered art book round robin collaborative titled Innerworks.  Another fabulous artist in the InnerWorks project is  Supria Karmaker  who will also be participating in the blog hop  today July 25th. Hope you get a chance to look at her post!


1) What am I working on/writing?

 Currently, I'm working on a new collage for a book being written by an amazingly talented west coast artist.   I'm so excited about it- and hoping to take a few different twists outside my usual style in its creation.

 I just finished a commission for the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai  in New York City to honor the founding chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine.,  Sheldon Jacobson, MD,   Since his passing in June 2009, the Sheldon Jacobson Education and Research Center was created in his honor with a ribbon cutting ceremony held this May 2014.









 I had been asked to create a collage symbolizing his accomplishments and the essence of what he brought to the department.

 Besides being a tremendous privilege to be asked to do this, it was a personal gift to me to honor him in this way. I wanted this artwork to combine some of my favorite components of my prior work in  conveying who Dr. Jacobson was as a person, educator, leader, visionary and compassionate doctor.   These pictures  are  of  my artwork, titled,  Reflections.

2) How does my work/writing differ from others of its genre?
My work consists of a tapestry of symbolism, colors, shapes and a flow of thoughts that I try to weave together- often including segments of my photos, ephemera that has meaning to me, pieces of art that I may have worked on in prior collaborations with artists or art that others have liked. It's my own circle of art-a type of fluidity from one work to another- all encompassing parts of the world around me.

3) Why do I write/work what I do?
 I am driven by nature, how in awe I am of it, and how what I see always looks like a picture. Since a child, I would see shapes and images and designs in everyday reflections, windows, wall papers. I am always inspired to create some sort of connection between nature, my thoughts, words and how they are all tied together.






4) How does my writing/working process work?
I always feel art within me- wherever I go, in whatever I am doing.  My only limitation is the time to express it with the everyday responsibilities I have that priority over the canvas.

And now that you know a bit more about me, let me introduce you to  the talented artist,
                                 
                                                             Deb Eck. 


Below, you can see  one of  Deb's  beautifully created tapestried  art  journals  woven together  in rich olive green and golden tones  of  varied patterned materials  that she donated and I was lucky enough to win at  a Hurricane Sandy fund raiser last year  spearheaded by The Altered Page.

        
 As Deb indicates about herself-- "For many years, I have been fascinated with the discourses surrounding madness and the stories of women historically trapped inside the boundaries of those ideas. Recently I have been further engaged by a resonance I perceived between this discussion and the language  of Victorian design reform.  All of this interest  has been focused through the space of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "Yellow Wallpaper",   a work that concerns both the mad women and immoral design... I find there is no way to be outside the  pattern,  that to find a space I must struggle to inhabit the interstices between ornament and flourish.   My work is about finding what lies in this in-between, of living in the pattern and subverting its lines to make my own design.  I find myself drawn repeatedly to work that  requires repetition and the labor of my hands and always to the presence of text and pattern and to making work that inhabits the spaces of the studio and gallery." 

Hope you can visit Deb's blog and Supria's blog  TODAY  when they participate in the blog hop!
 ***


Friday, July 11, 2014

Long Time No See!

It's Been a LonG  tIme since my last Post-
 Almost seems Surreal for so Much tiMe to have GonE by.
So Many Draft Posts  with each one Seemingly  taken a back burner
to the forefront of Life's current Activities.

 



















 Here is a photo I took of sunrise at Ponte Vedra Florida in June.



SO Very ExCited to Be pOsting very Soon AGAIN on an eXciting BLoGHOP I am PAarRTIcipating in WiTh the ever so talented Veronica Funk.

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

September 11- A Day of Reflection...

It's been a while since I've last posted- but couldn't miss this opportunity to send out remembrances of those no longer with us and to those still here, whose lives have changed and will never be the same.   Make sure to see the beauty around you- and never forget  that  it can surround us in nature, in a song, in a voice, a touch, a kind gesture or by giving to others. Acknowledge someone with a smile and you will be rewarded ten fold. 
 Blessings to all.
















Best wishes for a happy healthy and joyful new year!
Be brave, be creative and live freely.


Tuesday, July 9, 2013

The Mask of Alaska

From the moment I set sail for Alaska on my first cruise from foggy grey Seattle- it was truly a discovery of  new scenes and new exquisite visions that were breathtakingly unreal filled with snow capped mountains, eagles flying above, waterfalls, glaciers and teal blue ice that just glowed and gleaned.  From an off shore White Pass and Yukon train ride , we could see palettes of turquoise and emerald waters ( produced by limestone ash within melted ice waters)  with white frozen snow that looked like shiny vintage milk glass! 
                      Come take a little tour with me through the eyes of my iPhone!
   Here's a photo of Mendenhall Glacier (to the right)
with baby blue floating ice chunks in the water.




Below are  photos of Emerald Lake in  British Columbia. 
 

 
 




 











And below is a beautiful seagull flying by our cabin balcony.




I was totally surprised to see that the glacier was actually various shades of teal blue.


Next stop.... 
 Ketchikan Alaska! Here's an eye catching welcoming poppy flower from the side of the road! 
 

Monday, June 3, 2013

The Postcard Has Arrived!!

There's one thing you can always be certain of, and that's the uncertainty of what my paintings will finally look like and when they will be complete. As many know, most of my works are filled with  hidden items within a mosaic of designs that have special meaning to me. This new piece, The Postcard, is no exception.

What was once this---

 A 12" x 16"  mixed media canvas filled with components of postcards, money, vintage papers, music, rubber stamp images, writings from Signed by Ange, papers from LaWendula  and segments from an original 1964 Worlds Fair Souvenir  Guidebook....


Is Now This!



A mixed media work composed of acrylic paints,  additional new and vintage  stamps, writings, music, postcards, a photo of mine, money,  an original special four leaf clover from Michelle Ward,  Hebrew writing from a Torah and a mother/child picture from my mother's birth certificate.  
  
A few elements remain from the previous version, but if you were to peel off the top layers, you'd be sure to find a painting under a painting here.











Here's to finding color, music and joy in all you see! 
  

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