Florida Artists Group

Artists Bio:

My paintings are simply a dialog with myself in an effort to understand things.  Those things can be as basic as the relationships of color or form, or as complex as those of human affairs. Sometimes I think I am just inches too short to see over a wall, on the other side of which everything is revealed. Painting is my ladder.”

Reviewing her work in the Sarasota Herald Tribune, critic Marty Fugate wrote “Jana Millstone’s storybook surrealism is as compelling as ever.”

Millstone’s work has been shown in art galleries, museums, and important juried exhibitions around the country. Winner of numerous awards including the New York Society of Illustrator’s first prize scholarship and she most recently received first place in Florida’s Finest statewide competition. She tackles themes of social gravity with thoughtful and unique approaches. She works on more than one series at a time, each with a unique stylistic approach that is dictated by subject matter.

Artist Statement:

I make art because I need to invent a world that I can control. In that world I can try on ideas, protest, play, and rejoice. The need is as strong as my need to speak. My paintings are a dialog with myself in an effort to understand things.  Those things can be as basic as the relationships of color or form, or as complex as those of human affairs. Sometimes I think I am just inches too short to see over a wall, on the other side of which everything is revealed. Painting is my ladder.

A variety of subjects have driven my work in recent years, but all are generated by my preoccupation with themes of transition, power and control. I am perpetually driven to find new ways to make art, and as a result I do a lot of experimenting with materials and techniques, but it is the thematic exploration that propels that effort. The challenge becomes how to explore deeply puzzling social and political issues, codifying them into a visual vocabulary to make them make sense to me, and ultimately to the viewer.
I am currently working on three ongoing series of paintings, each with a unique stylistic approach that is dictated by subject matter.

FABLES FOR OUR TIMES

With these works I am inverting relationships and testing notions of power and memory.   I often use the intimacy of children and families metaphorically to grapple with larger social issues. With a palette that is bright and pleasing, I hope to open a doorway into worlds that maybe disquieting. By cutting out the shapes and constructing my panels, I am challenging the traditional pictorial format, extending elements beyond it, in a way that is meant to mirror the disruption of expected norms.  The compositions are an amalgam of dreams, stories, and memories that sometimes suggest morality tales. The narrative is often deliberately left open, posing questions rather than offering answers. My aim is to take on formidable and sobering subjects using humor, without diminishing their potency. In addition to sparing the viewer undiluted doses of reality, it makes for happier days in my studio.

VEIL

Veils are barriers. They create an obstructed view from both sides. For me, the veil becomes an intriguing way to explore the idea of alternate vantage points. These paintings are about giving voice to contrasting notions, and possibly more important, offering the visual metaphor for the obfuscation of truth.

I am moved by the compelling humanity that surges from the figures of women in burqas and niqabs (facial veils.) I began painting them over and over in an effort to distill for myself the overwhelming mystery of cloth used to mask, to negate. These are not indictments of religious practice. Covering the body for modesty, protection, and respect has been an integral practice of people of many faiths. This series sets about testing ideas of free will in societies that offer women limited human rights.

Veils have been used since biblical times, carrying a range of symbolic meaning including modesty and deception, as well as sexual intrigue, with its associated suggestions of denial and discovery. Think of bridal veils offering the implication of unwrapping a pristine white candy.

Some of the VEIL paintings incorporate verbiage from the American suffrage movement, the civil rights movement, and poetry from the Arab world, in addition to my own poetry, because these are issues that all people share regardless of barriers.

GARDEN SHADOWS

For many years now I have made art that is angry.  One might miss that, looking at the work, since it is brightly colored and subversively comical. Each new work has been a small battle in my grand war challenging societal wrongs. Maybe it is the hateful political climate or bearing witness to the horrific state of the world that is prompting my need for serenity and genuine sweetness, bringing me to this new body of work. These are prayers for cushioning. I am layering human forms in atmospheric gardens, yearning for integration with a natural world that is now under siege, and wishing for a lush calm to settle over it all.

Exhibitions:

2018
                *Art League of Daytona Beach Petticoat Painters ...Group exhibit Dayton FL
                * Real/Not Real juried group exhibition Art Center Sarasota
                * Smith and Basch Galleries  Ringling College of Art and Design  Petticoat
                   Painters ...Group exhibit Sarasota, FL
                 *  Dog Days Art Uptown Gallery Sarasota, Juried Group Show Sarasota, FL
                 * Members Juried Show Art Center Manatee, Manatee Fl
                 * Florida’s Finest Art Center Sarasota Statewide juried exhibit Sarasota, FL
2017
                * Florida’s Finest Statewide juried exhibition Florida's Art Center Sarasota, FL
                   Juried by Lynn Whitelaw Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art
                 * National League of American Pen Women group exhibit, Basch and Smith  
                 Galleries at the Ringling College of Art and Design, Sarasota,
                 * Lighter Fare, three person exhibit. Players Theater for the Performing Arts.
                 * Creators and Collectors Tour, Invitational exhibit sponsored by the Fine Arts             
                    Society of  Sarasota
                  * Women Contemporary Artist Juried Spring Exhibition  Longboat Key  Center for the Arts,                     Longboat Key FL     
                  * Petticoat Painters  Big Arts Sanibel, Fl 
                  * Members Juried Show Art Center Manatee, Manatee Fl

2016
                * All Angels by the Sea solo exhibit Longboat Key FL
                * Swing Statejuried group exhibition Art Center Sarasota, FL
                * National League American Pen Women group exhibit, Art Center Manatee, FL
                * Dog Days of Summer Group exhibit Art Uptown Gallery, Sarasota, FL
                * Florida Flavor  Cross State  juried group exhibition Art Center Sarasota, FL
                * Art Uptown Gallery Open Juried Landscape Show, Sarasota, FL
                * Drawing Lines Across Mediums    Site:Brooklyn, Brooklyn, NY
                   Juried by Olga Tetkowski of the Drawing Center, NYC
                * Women Contemporary Artists Spring Juried Exhibition Sarasota FL
                * Petticoat Painters invitational group exhibit, Sarasota FL
                 2016 Biennial Show NLAPW, Woman’s National Democratic Club,
                   Juried by Lynn Sures, Corcoran School of Arts and Design, Washington DC.

2015
              * National League American Pen Women, Studio at Gulf and Pine Anna Maria Is. FL
             * Daily News Arts Center Sarasota juried exhibit, Sarasota, FL.
             * Dog Days Art Uptown Gallery Sarasota FL group juried exhibit, Sarasota, FL.
             * Women Contemporary Artists’ Spring Exhibit Selby Gallery, juried competition Sarasota,
             * Shape and Shadow Mount Dora Center for the Arts Juried exhibit ,Mount Dora, FL.
             * The Writing on the Wall Pyramid Gallery, National juried exhibit, Miami, Fl. 

2014
              *  Monochromatic Magic Susquehanna Art Museum Invitational exhibit. Harrisburg PA.
               * A Portrait Apart Deux   Porter Contemporary  Gallery, New York, NY

2013             
                * Suzanne H Arnold Art Gallery  42nd Juried Art Exhibition. , Annville ,PA
                * Construction/Destruction juried exhibition State Museum of PA
                * Lancaster Museum of Art community exhibition, Lancaster, PA.

2012             
                * Treasured, juried exhibition Annmarie  Sculpture Garden and Arts Cente
                * Art of the State, Pennsylvania 2012   Harrisburg, PA.
                * Doshi 40th Anniversary exhibition at the State Museum in Harrisburg PA.
                * Baker’s Dozen Whitaker Center, Harrisburg PA.
                * Lancaster Museum of Art community exhibition Lancaster, PA.
2011 
                * Wills Creek Survey 2011 juried exhibition at the Saville Gallery in Cumberland MD.
                *  Art as an Entrée, juried exhibition held at the State Museum, PA
          
                   Began to exhibit again in 2011 after a hiatus for career demands.
Prior
                     Group exhibits at Brooks Jackson Iolas Gallery, 57th St. NY.

AWARDS OF NOTE 

Florida’s Finest Statewide Exhibition …First Place
Sarasota Arts Center Swing State …Honorable Mention
Sarasota Arts Center Daily News Exhibit… First Place
National League of American Pen Women National Exhibition Washington , DC     Honorable Mention
Art Uptown Dog Days juried group exhibition… Second Place
Art Uptown Gallery Sarasota, Fl. group juried exhibit… Honorable Mention
 Women Contemporary Artists Sarasota, Fl. Juried Spring Exhibit …Merit Award
 Suzanne H. Arnold Art Gallery, Annville, PA 42nd Juried Art Exhibition 
  Honorable mention
 New York Society of Illustrators’ Scholarship Competition... First Prize

PROFESSIONAL HISTORY
Although I viewed much of my extensive design career as time separating me from my art, I now recognize how much it has contributed to it. As Director of Design Concept at Lenox China (Lenox Brands) for eleven years, I was responsible for ideation, design, and development of home décor products, china, metal and glass. My work at various times as Design Director, product designer and illustrator, clothing, jewelry, accessories design, of pens, graphics, and industrial design, has given me invaluable exposure to multiple technologies and processes. Directing and mentoring other artists has brought a sharpened discipline for critical analysis. The experiences of traveling, business negotiations, presentations, and coordinating the activities of others, all have helped enrich my art practice today, making me convinced that there is a way to achieve any vision.