{"id":1438,"date":"2008-09-14T00:01:48","date_gmt":"2008-09-14T06:01:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1438"},"modified":"2008-09-14T00:02:39","modified_gmt":"2008-09-14T06:02:39","slug":"7-imps-7-kicks-80-featuring-jody-hewgill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/?p=1438","title":{"rendered":"7-Imp’s 7 Kicks #80: Featuring Jody Hewgill"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jules<\/font><\/strong>: Welcome to our weekly meeting ground for taking some time to reflect on Seven(ish) Exceptionally Fabulous, Beautiful, Interesting, Hilarious, or Otherwise Positive Noteworthy Things from the past week—whether book-related or not—that happened to you. <\/p>\n

What a pleasure it is to have here today award-winning Canadian artist Jody Hewgill<\/strong><\/a>. Jody first came to my attention when author Tanita S. Davis, aka TadMack at Finding Wonderland<\/strong><\/em><\/a>, posted this<\/strong><\/a> over at Readers’ Rants<\/em> in July. It’s the cover concept for Tanita’s 2009 novel, Mare’s War<\/em>, and it was created by Ms. Hewgill. (That cover is pictured here below.) Fortunately, Jody agreed to a Sunday 7-Imp feature. Pictured above and opening our post this morning is “Portrait of a Lady with Fox ” (acrylic on masonite panel — and how much do I LOVE that Jody included her medium of choice for each painting? A whole lot, ’cause a} it’s fascinating and b} I didn’t have to guess, as I usually do). Jody tells us, “{this is a} visual commentary on the environment, and a play on Leonardo da Vinci’s classic painting. It’s a depiction of my vision of a modern classic beauty.”<\/strong><\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Before we see a few more pieces of art from Jody, a bit more about her: Jody, who is a native of Montr\u00e9al, Qu\u00e9bec, has been painting and illustrating since 1988 and has worked on a wide variety of assignments including book covers, editorial illustration, theatre posters, and retail interior murals for clients in North America, Europe, and Asia. “I have never illustrated an entire book…because I haven’t been offered anything as of yet where I feel I could flex my creative muscles,”<\/strong><\/em><\/font> Jody told me. “But I am hoping something juicy will come along soon. I have illustrated the covers of many books for adults as well as for young adult.”<\/strong><\/em><\/font> Jody graduated from the Ontario College of Art and Design<\/strong><\/a> and currently teaches illustration there. Several of her posters are included in the Permanent Poster Collection of the Library of Congress<\/strong><\/a> in Washington, D.C., and her paintings can be found in several private collections throughout North America. <\/p>\n

“I am immensely curious about the emotional inner workings of human beings,”<\/font><\/strong><\/em> she shares in her artist’s statement. “I am very inspired by the novels of Ian McEwen and literature that explores the darker side of the human condition. My aim is to create images that express elements of mystery and theatricality. My work often references pre-Raphaelite masters, but it\u2019s also an amalgamation of many influences. Sometimes it deals with the whimsical, narrative or surreal, and incorporates elements of pop culture, ancient symbolism, and folklore. But whatever direction I decide to explore, I\u2019m always intent on expressing the emotional content of the message through gesture. My figures tend to have a sculptural quality to them, and I believe this is due to the influence of Miles Tyrell, an apprentice to Henri Moore and my sculpture professor in Montr\u00e9al.”<\/font><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n


\n

“Notorious”; 8″ x 8″ acrylic on maple panel. Created for “Know” show,
the Art Fair 2007, Miami, Florida<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

Jody also notes that she will be a guest host on the Windstar<\/strong><\/a> on February 15, 2009, in the Caribbean, where she will be giving a lecture\/demonstration and that six of her paintings are currently in an exhibition called “Le Favolose Matite Colorate nel Mondo,” touring Italy. “It is a exhibition that is showcasing forty-three women illustrators from around the world. The art critique Virginia Baradel writes this about my work: <\/p>\n

The Canadian Jody Hewgill’s feminine figures seem to be she-giants who know the ancient codes and weapons of seduction, but who invert their course, fully undertaking the initiative: this feature makes the artist’s female heroines disturbing, superwomen who completely bury fatal attraction to sacrifice themselves as “heroines” of the past.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I’m not entirely sure what to make of this comment, perhaps something is lost in the translation, but I do like the word ‘disturbing’ attributed to my work.”<\/font><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n


\n

“Camouflage Bride”‘ 12″ x 15” acrylic on masonite panel. “Inspired by a Gainsborough<\/strong><\/a> painting, this is a double play on the concept of a reluctant bride and
the state of our world.”<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n


\n

“The Bride”; 18″ x 8.5″ acrylic on gessoed board, “commissioned by <\/em>Amazing Stories magazine to accompany a short story about Frankenstein’s Bride. I fell in love with the first line of the story ‘I was born brilliant…’ The eyes in the flowers represent the watchful gaze of the doctor and Frankenstein who follow her every mood. The bee balm flower which she holds in her hand was discovered on a walk in the woods of Northern Ontario where we have a cottage.”<\/em><\/center><\/p>\n

* * * eisha’s kicks * * *<\/strong><\/font><\/center><\/p>\n

Most of my kicks are going to have to do with my new job at the Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

1* Everyone has been really nice to me so far. Also, I’m pretty sure I’m the most ignorant person in the building, which is actually great – I’m going to learn so much there.<\/p>\n

2* My immediate supervisor has told several people in my presence that she hired me because she thought I was funny in the interview.<\/p>\n

Leadbelly and Stella. He killed a man, then wrote a song that got him pardoned from prison, people.3* On the first day, when they showed me into my office, I saw 17 file boxes piled around labeled “Leadbelly.” Yes, that Leadbelly<\/strong><\/a>. I just happen to be a bit of a blues fan, and was thrilled to find out that my predecessor had been processing this donation of Leadbelleana, and I will probably be working on it too. I spent Thursday afternoon reading through papers from his FBI file.<\/p>\n

4* Other amazing things I found out we have in the vault include a first folio Shakespeare<\/strong><\/a>, and one of five known handwritten-by-Lincoln copies of the Gettysburg Address<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

5* A non-job-related kick: the husband and I had yummy eggplant parmesan<\/strong><\/a> at a get-together with the neighbors.<\/p>\n

6* I finally saw Eastern Promises<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, and I just cannot believe how good Viggo Mortensen is in it. The man is a freaking chameleon, and such a believable bad-ass.<\/p>\n

7* Love the art. LOVE it. I want to commission Jody to come and paint murals all over my walls.<\/p>\n

* * * Jules’ kicks * * *<\/strong><\/font><\/center><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I’m gonna keep things short, friends, because—as of Saturday night as I’m typing this—my wee puddin’ punkin’ angel head of a two-year-old is sick. She’s all hot and feverish. Poor thing. And I’m also under the weather myself and feel like something the cat drug in, as they say. I’m also behind on blogging, behind on reading, behind on blog-reading, and just generally clueless this week. Suffice it to say, kick-wise, that a). I’m so happy Eisha loves her job and that finally a library recognized someone special (and wicked funny) when they saw it and that b). Jody’s art work is superb. Also, Red looks a lot like Eisha up there. Not the eye and hair color but pretty much the rest of the face. <\/p>\n

My final, quick kick? See the art above that my four-year-old made? I hope I’m not turning into someone who is constantly posting kid-art (that is probably neat only to the parent), but I got a particular kick out of this. She drew her family (crayon and a bit of collage there), and in case you can’t see it, I did a little detail here: She depicted her mama holding a coffee cup. Hee. She knows her mama well. (And, despite what it may look like there, I promise I don’t normally wear my hair like Don King.) <\/p>\n

I hope everyone’s well and happy. What are your kicks this week?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jules: Welcome to our weekly meeting ground for taking some time to reflect on Seven(ish) Exceptionally Fabulous, Beautiful, Interesting, Hilarious, or Otherwise Positive Noteworthy Things from the past week—whether book-related or not—that happened to you. What a pleasure it is to have here today award-winning Canadian artist Jody Hewgill. Jody first came to my attention […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-seven-good-things-before-monday"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1438\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}