Monday, April 09, 2007

My Bio

I recently read some helpful advice about the business of art. We artists sometimes don’t like to deal with the business end of it, but it is necessary if one is to succeed! Someone who has made an enormous impact on me is Alyson B Stanfield. She is an art marketing consultant who has a great website for emerging artists: http://artbizcoach.com. She speaks about the artists’ need to spice up our bios and make them not only factual, but interesting, even fun reading as well. A Bio is something we write to let folks know a little bit about us: where we’ve come from, what we’ve accomplished and what we do.

Never having been accused of being overconfident, I sometimes find it hard to talk proudly about myself. Bragging was never my thing! But I do understand that it can be helpful to an art collector to know more about the artists whose work they collect. It can also help the viewer of your art to gain a fuller understanding of what’s going on in the canvas.

So here goes! For your reading pleasure, here’s a little about me!

(Please feel free to post a comment at the end. I would love to hear feedback in the form of helpful constructive criticism. Tell me if you’ve enjoyed reading; if I have kept your interest!)

Jeanne Guerin-Daley’s Bio

I really do love my family very much, but...

I am also in love with making art. I love it so much; I can't get enough of it! I spend lots of my time creating graphite as well as colored pencil drawings, acrylic paintings, murals, faux finishes, portraits of pets and people, landscapes... I just can't seem to stop myself from continuing to create (usually)* two-dimensional images that depict three-dimensional things from our world.

Life is so short and there is so much to paint!

Born in Philadelphia, PA and raised in its suburbs, I returned to the city to attend the University of the Arts (then called the Philadelphia College of Art.) I learned a lot there, but two years of city living was enough for me, an ardent nature lover. I had to get out of the city for awhile; I also longed for some travel adventure, to see a little of the rest of the world so I transferred to an art college down in Tennessee. After achieving a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from the Memphis College of Art (then called the Memphis Academy of Art) I took a job in the offset printing industry. I was trying to be practical; at the time I lacked sufficient confidence in my art capabilities in regards to making a living. So many years were spent working and virtually ignoring my creative spirit! Then I moved back near home, fell in love with the best guy in the world, and got married. With my husband's help, I proceeded to be creative in another way: in the form of four little living things (i.e. babies) in five years' time (whew!) Needless to say to parents out there, those events were key factors in the fact that the next 12 or so years kept me extremely busy!

Once my three boys and a girl became teenagers, the creative bug continued to gnaw at me. It was time to stop neglecting the desire to paint and draw. You've heard of Born Again Christians? Well, you could call me a Born Again Painter! My need to rekindle that spark, that passion, I have had for art-making for so long, has kept me working feverishly to express years of bottled up art.

I have begun to exhibit in the Philadelphia and Wilmington areas for the past year as a member of ARTsisters, a group of emerging women artists in the Philadelphia suburban area.

Among other* projects, I have also begun an adventure in making murals and faux finishes by commission. Always the student and eager to learn how to become better, I constantly attempt to keep tabs on the latest methods. In the summer of 2005 I completed the Mural Painting Certificate Program from the Pennsylvania College of Art & Design in Lancaster, PA. (“Misty Mountains Sunflowers” –pictured here - is a product of that experience.)

Misty Mountains Sunflowers”
5‘ x 5‘ Acrylic Paint on Parachute Cloth
Copyright 2005 Jeanne Guerin-Daley
All Rights Reserved

Why do I paint? I paint to express a sense of awe at the wonders of our world,, to spread the beauty, to bring the outdoors in. The act of painting gives me a terrific energetic feeling that I get from no other activity! Plain and simply, I just love to paint!

More information about me and more artwork can be found at:

http://hellophiladelphia.com/art/jeanne.cfm

*Footnote from above: refers to my Bahama Llama which was three dimensional, painted for AbZOOlutely Chestnut Hill Public Art/Fundraising Project.A picture of Bahama Llama can be found elsewhere on this blog, but also at: http://abzoolutelychestnuthill.org/llama.asp

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