For Jenny Stevens, wild color is where the art is

The art of Jenny Stevens is seen here at 1894 Gallery, where she is the featured artist this month. (Submitted photo)
The art of Jenny Stevens is seen here at 1894 Gallery, where she is the featured artist this month. (Submitted photo)

TEXARKANA, Ark. - Local artist Jenny Stevens can get wild with her acrylic paintings, wild with color, that is.

Stevens has been the featured artist at 1894 Gallery this month, where art lovers will find dozens of her works showcased. Her work shows her increasing sense of confidence over this past year. She's been busy.

"Right now I'm kind of on a tree series. I guess it's inspired by my dad; he's a tree man. He's been taking a lot of pictures," Stevens said. Those pictures are sent to her, and so they've inspired this new series.

"I mean everybody loves trees. Trees are awesome. There's not a lot to not like about trees," she says.

One of the paintings included in this feature at the gallery shows towering trees from below, infused with gorgeous reds and yellows and oranges with splashes of blue for the sky above.

"I've been sticking with the bright colors. I do a lot of bright colors. I guess my most recent works are kind of Fauvism trees," Stevens said. Fauvism was a French art movement in the early 20th Century that favored brilliant, bold colors, with Henri Matisse as one leading figure.

"It's basically wild colors, things done in wild colors," Stevens said. She wants her art to be bold and bright, positive - "trying to make things look positive," she said.

She's sensed a change in her art, a resurgent confidence. Georgia Hubnik and Debbie Nicholas at the gallery have helped her with this, supporting her, she says.

"I went for a long time seeking a lot of validation, I guess, with my art. More recently, I have not. I don't ask many people their opinion. Not that I don't want people to like it, but I try to do my own thing instead of pleasing other people," Stevens said.

She never suspected she'd become a featured artist there, but she's stoked about it, she says. Nicholas featured her art prominently back at the former Arts on Broad location, and now she's a featured artist at 1894.

"It was definitely a surprise, but it's an honor for sure. It definitely made me feel special. I've tried to be productive since Debbie was down at Arts on Broad and she first asked me to show in her gallery. I try to stay consistently productive to have some stuff to give her, try to do it as a job," Stevens said, also crediting Shea Phillips, another local artist, with support.

One area of the gallery feature shows a couple of different modes she works in, bound by the use of color. Two pieces in this particular quartet of paintings are abstracts, but one pictures an elephant and the other those tall trees. A Jenny Stevens painting is alive with reds, blues, oranges, yellows and purples.

"Orange is my favorite color, but I try really hard not to overuse it," Stevens said.

She describes the change in her art this way: "For a long time, I was very hung up about trying to find my style, and I quit doing that because I like a lot of variety." Doing the same art over and over again won't happen for her.

"I'm not criticizing anyone else, but I just personally I can't do that," Stevens said. And what ties her works together is the color.

However, the variety appeals to her, whether it's portraits or something else. "Usually the abstracts happen when I don't know what else to paint," Stevens said, "but I've got to keep painting, you know?" She paints to keep painting.

To see her work, visit 1894 Gallery before the month ends. A reception will be held on Feb. 27, 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. That's the last day she'll be the featured artist.

(The 1894 Gallery is located at 105 Olive St. in Texarkana, Arkansas. For more information, visit Facebook.com/1894Gallery or call 870-330-5003.)

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