Dreams, Prismatic Spectrums & the Universe with Jessica Majella
Jessica Majella outside The HeArt Box, Live art for Art Walk Flagstaff, August 2022
The seasons change and we shift into the autumn realm, slowing down and taking in the changing colors outside. A new show opens with resident artist, Jessica Majella. Dreams, Prismatic Spectrums & the Universe is all about the color. Dreamy images in vibrant colored pencil depict the imagination of the sky and the subconscious with imagery of nebulae, sunset clouds, kaleidoscope grids, and symbolic representations of flora and fauna in Jessica’s premier solo show.
Jessica’s exhibition, Dreams, Prismatic Spectrums & the Universe opens October 7th at The HeArt Box in downtown Flagstaff, followed by open Gallery day on Saturday, October 8th.
Jill got to ask Jessica a few questions about her work and the upcoming show.
In progress piece by Jessica Majella
What role has art, creativity played in your life throughout the years? Do you remember the moment that you knew art was a part of who you were?
JM - Art has always been a part of my life. My parents had a home studio when I was very little where my mom painted and my dad framed pictures. My dad worked as the head framer at an art gallery for the first half of my life so I spent a lot of time wandering around a gallery as a child. Painting and drawing are some of my earliest childhood memories. I can't think of a time when I didn't identify as being an artist.
You have worked with many different mediums, particularly sculptures and jewelry. How does 2D art compare, anything you have been surprised by, challenged by?
JM - I injured my dominant hand earlier this year so the real challenge was just physically keeping up with drawing every day. My hand was still weak and very tired! But I think it was also a really great way to rehab my hand too. The most surprising thing was that after such a long break from regularly painting and drawing it still felt so perfectly natural, like I hadn't ever stopped doing it. Which was also a relief! I had a fear that I would be so out of practice and everything would be terrible!
Artwork by Jessica Majella
Color is a theme of your upcoming show, how do you relate to color in your everyday life? Is there an importance, favorites in color, an emotional connection, etc.?
JM - I have always loved rainbows and seeing the colors of the prism together. I was the kid who kept their markers and pencils very neatly arranged in rainbow order. It's just something I've always loved. And I just love bright colors in general. I'm attracted to really oversaturated color in anything: art, clothing, nature. I'm not entirely sure why I'm so attracted to bold color and lots of color, but I think it just feels like the visual interpretation of something that has an essence of inspiration and otherworldly-ness... I think color can indicate something that you should pause and take a moment for.
You mention narrative spell work in the statement for Dreams, Prismatic Spectrums & the Universe, can you explain what that means to you more?
JM - I think there's a very traditional, accepted idea in the western world of what a spell is based on what we've seen in movies and TV and books. When we think of magic and spells we have this very clear image in our heads of witches and wizards from popular culture and Halloween decorations. But what I am talking about here is rethinking the notion of what a spell is or what a spell could be. For me when I think about magic I'm think about the every day things we brush off as coincidence or mundane but actually have quite a lot of special energy to them. I think art making is one of those actions that we don't necessarily think about as magic, but I certainly do. And I think the act of drawing and painting (or singing or dancing, anything!) can be a kind of spell work where you are channeling what's in your imagination and in your emotions and interpreting that into the physical tangible realm so that our physical sensory process can take it in and share in your imagination is quite amazing and divine and magical.
Artwork by Jessica Majella
How has been working with colored pencils for this collection? Anything surprised you, challenges?
JM - Working with colores pencil was a bit of a nostalgic choice. I really loved working with colored pencil in highschool and I still have a couple of pieces from my highschool art classes! I also wanted this series to have a fairy tale book illustration quality to it and I thought that colored pencil would be a perfect medium for that. It didn't take too long to get back into working with the pencils since I was familiar with them, again the real challenge was rehabilitating my hand.
Dreams, Prismatic Spectrums & the Universe is on display at The HeArt Box in downtown Flagstaff from October 7th & 8th, 2022. You can learn more about Jessica at https://www.jmajella.com/.