"Pilots View" is a painting that is inspired by a friend of mine who is a pilot. He flies to the middle east, Australia, and Hawaii frequently to deliver packages from America. I often wonder what the earth looks like from a "pilots view". If I were to imagine the sky from above, I would see little bubbles of light that flicker through the clouds to expose the earth below. I have embellished a little in this painting as the view is skewed and the pilot is beyond the flying range and into outer space. I know pilots are "out there" and the life must be one that is filled with adventure. I would also imagine it gets pretty lonely way up high in the sky away from family and friends for great periods of time. The pilot would have to have many good friends in many different ports of call. Perhaps the pilot has a special few friends who love him from afar and ventures into cyberspace often to touch base with people on the ground when he finishes touching the sky from a "pilots view". Pilots are special people indeed!
I am staying in this pink and purple pallete from summer. The pod was found one evening when I took my sons to their playground in the school yard. It was left behind on the bench and I came upon much like I do all my earth objects with unexpected pleasure. The gift was that it was there waiting for me and so I took it home and photographed it and then added it to my magnolia pod collection.
I was at a friends house this past weekend for a social event and had some show cards with the original "Ipod" image on them. It was the first of my earth object series. Someone mentioned that it looked like a penis. I never thought of it that way. To me it looks like a beautiful magnolia pod that has been embedded into the ground of my painting.
This pod is passionate and still and she waits for a brighter future.
I have often wondered what happened to Rapunzel after she galloped off into the sunset with her gallant lover the charming prince. It occurs to me that Rapunzel may of had a difficult time adjusting to the "real world" after living in that tower for many long years. Her moral code must of been so finely established that when she engaged with the prince--her mirror-- she was not prepared for his world of instant chat rooms, Face book, Twitter, text messaging and skype.
You see Rapunzel spent many years honing her moral, and spiritual code of etchics--to a degree of such extreme rigidness and perfection--that she discovered she was more alone with her prince than when she lived by herself in the tower. She was used to her towers rotary telephone and notes written by hand. When she encountered her prince and mirrored to him her finely honed set of virtues, the prince did not reflect back to her the same degree of purity. And so her finely tuned world of fantasy was put to the test; and it so happened that when the two communicated, they were in such disagreement about how each perceived the world, that the prince got angry and sent her a text message to tell her they were done and to move on.
Rapunzel was so distraught by the abruptness of his actions that she did not know what to do. She spent thousands of dollars on therapy to tell her that the prince was selfish and not worthy of her; and that next time she would value herself more. When Rapunzel texted her confusion about the situation, he deleted her from his life at the flash of a finger tip, for in his world of virtual reality that was all it took. She was no longer his Facebook friend, twitter friend and he even deleted Rapunzel from his castle cell phone. Rapunzel was reduced to a delete button and was asked to leave the castle without discussion. Poor Rapunzel cried a moats worth of tears and cut all her hair off. She felt weak and unable to function, and her world turned from a bright blue sky to a thunderstorm of gray. Her moment of happiness turned into a nightmare called modern day relationships where men are from Mars and women are from Venus.
You see her prince was used to the real world and how people can come and go in your life in an instant. Rapunzel spent eons thinking about her little world in the tower and how the world should be and simply was not ready to climb out into the world of technology and fast moving jet engine air planes. Rapunzel was not used to all the rapid fire responses in the technology world whereby everyone is on constant response mode and spends little time formulating real thoughts that require reflection and form. So she went back to her tower and her prince went back to his worldly quest of conquering damsels in distress; and never truly spending the time it takes to get to know his damsels.
The prince loved the conquest, but failed miserably at the relationship because he had an adrenaline addiction...like most techno junkies on the planet today. The prince honed his skills of perfecting the rescue and compartmentalized his ability to communicate with his damsels. He was a selfish prince and life was about his terms that stemmed from his perfectionistic nature. His obsessive compulsive thinking backed his mind into a corner and fear stepped in where love should of bloomed. And in the end, his fears won out and he lost Rapunzel to his own mind. You see the prince was also a product of his environment where quick decisions could cost him his life and he was accustomed to staying the course of chosen action just like he learned during his knighthood training. He could not love Rapunzel for who she was for that required him to step out of his safe zone and accept the truest gift of all that Rapunzel had to offer...unconditional love.
Rapunzel had no problems adjusting back to her tower for it is a safe place to exist. She can look out at her blue moon again in perfect peace knowing that her world stays the same up there...peaceful and without drama. And she can love her prince in her mind and know its safe; and yearn for him in her heart remembering his warm and tender voice when he sang to her up in her tower and loved her from afar.
I had a dream this summer which turned into a waking vision. The dream was so real that it stayed with me for days and now it is a constant daily passenger in my thoughts. In the dream I was standing in front of all the souls in heaven being applauded. As I looked out over an ocean of souls into a mist of whites , purples and pinks, I felt completely loved in this sea of spirits and completely complete. The gift of the dream was that I was standing next to my twin soul--the one they say that is with you since the beginning of time. The audience that stood before us was noisy and active and chirping for the two souls before them who travelled such a long and weary journey to this place. They say that twin souls rarely come together on earth, but when they do it is a gift that is heaven sent. I had a dream this summer--a waking vision--and it remains a constant passenger in my thoughts.
This is the first painting completed in over two months since I began the gallery/school/studio journey. The painting was inspired by a friends photograph of the Gorge amphitheatre in George, Washington. He calls the spot "heavens amphitheatre". The green, blue and yellow palette is reminiscent of paintings that I did when I was 16 and 17 years old. The earth object that is overlapped on the foreground is actually the same object painted in the "Dubai" painting. It is from the poplar tree and looks somewhat like a spire. I chose this object for its pointed shape and majestic look like that of a kings spire. There is also a tower metaphor going on in the imagery. The sky was inspired by Sharon Antholt's Tibetan paintings. Antholt is one of my teachers who used to show her work at Anton Gallery, in Washington D.C. The gallery closed several years ago.
Some thoughts about the spire are as follows.
A spire is in the word inspire. Dictionary definitions:
a tall, acutely pointed pyramidal roof or roof like construction upon a tower, roof, etc.
a similar construction forming the upper part of a steeple.
a tapering, pointed part of something; a tall, sharp-pointed summit, peak, or the like: the distant spires of the mountains.
the highest point or summit of something: the spire of a hill; the spire of one's profession.
a sprout or shoot of a plant, as an acrospire of grain or a blade or spear of grass.
Week in Vienna The Vienna/Oakton Connection Newspaper
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Giampa Presents Retrospective, Opens New Gallery and School
Joan Marie Giampa is exhibiting her 16 year retrospective to coincide with the grand opening of her Red Caboose Gallery & Vienna Studio School on Aug. 28, 6-9 p.m. at 138 Church St., NE in Vienna. Giampa, a 16-year-veteran of the D.C. area arts scene, is known for her exhibitions such as "The Smell of Colors" and "13 Fish" at the Foundry Gallery in DuPont Circle.
She calls her studio school a "fine arts school for the new millennium." She will offer small classes and individual study in a classroom setting similar to that of the community college in painting and drawing.
Painting and Drawing Classes are forming now for September. See schedule: http://www.joanmariegiampa.com/Vienna_Studio_School/index.html
Giampa sees the Church Street as an up and coming arts scene and festival venue and feels that her Red Caboose Gallery and Vienna Studio School will be a welcome addition to the already bustling arts scene and business community on Church Street.
Giampa is a native of northern Virginia. She was born in Arlington in 1960 and has been a resident of Vienna for 37 years.
Giampa received an MFA in painting from the University of Maryland in 1998 and a BFA in graphic design from James Madison University in 1983. She teaches painting and design at Northern Virginia Community College. Giampa is advancing towards candidacy for a doctorate degree from George Mason University in the field of scholarly teaching and art.
Giampa has been exhibiting her work professionally since 1993. Her work is in private collections throughout the United States and Europe. Last year she was selected to be in Mary Washington University's annual Mid-Atlantic Painting Exhibition. The exhibition was curated by John Ravenal, curator for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Another exhibition she was invited to display her work in last year was "Virginia Painters Process Unveiled‚" Rawls Museum, Courtland, Va.
This Artist has been very busy lately. I will be opening my own studio school, gallery and studio in the heart of downtown Vienna. On July 23rd, 2009 the Vienna Studio School and the Red Caboose Gallery became official.
Some paintings seem to flow off the brush naturally as if the image was waiting to be discovered within the canvas ground. Dubai is one of these paintings where each stroke felt complete. The painting is inspired by a photographer friend of mine who shoots images all over the world. His photo, Dubai is of similar palette--a warm purple red with layers of pink overlaying. Pink is the color of unconditional love and its a color I am embracing in my own life this summer.
I bought a huge pink purse and some pink shoes along with pink shirts and underwear. I can't seem to fill my life up with enough pink and it reflects the new inspiration I have found in my life and my work.
I am opening a gallery/studio in my hometown of Vienna where I will teach students and workshops on painting. More to come on the studio and its location. Hope you are having a wonderful summer as I am having the greatest summer and adventure of my life. I just sold my house and am moving back into town. Yes I am a townie--a vienna townie and proud of it.
My name is Joan Marie Giampa. I describe my self as an Image Archaeologist™. My images evolve out of the surface of the canvas by carving into the wet gesso with the butt of a paintbrush. I dig into the surface to carve out the image and then brush layers of paint over the dried gesso imprint to unveil the etched surface ground. The carving is uncovered by rubbing paint into the surface grooves. Multiple layers of paint are brushed lightly over the beveled edges unearthing the image. Each layer adds an illusion of depth and is brushed and wiped away as the image unfolds. The image is found within the surface ground thus making it “image archaeology. This is my approach to the process of painting. Paintings are sometimes for bid on Ebay. If you are interested in other works, please visit my: Web Site
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