Janice Meister
Power Tower Kachina Rez
Mixed media monoprint
13” x 19”
Janice F. Meister
Power Tower Kachina
Mixed media monoprint
28” x 22”
How do you explain being American before all others where labeled American. My grandmother was Seminole, the descendent from a very long line of spirit keepers, teachers. Her name was Amanda One Who Hops. She gave me all the energies to be a child of nature, to understand the careful balance we need to practice, to co-exist with all things… earthly, spiritual, and unseen/mysterious and undiscovered. Being an American means keeping balance, a sound and vibration existence with a society of many cultures, without losing the core of native teachings. Each work I am exhibiting has a different feeling, concept, idea or translation. I experience being both a Native American and a descendent of European ancestors. I Am American.
Power Tower Katchina Rez is one of twelve works that gives the viewer a chance to reflect on how ComEd’s or any electric companies power towers resembled large Kachina figure that walk the American landscape. Especially those found on the reservations’ located in Oklahoma where I spent most of my summers helping, living and loving my Grandmother. As you look closer you will see the many shacks at the foreground, the towering Kachinas (power towers) the mask at center and the
Native cross or four corners symbol; all part of a native/American experience.
Power Tower Kachina was an image exhibited at Energy/Science/Etc., Italy. It is, an American icon symbolizing “Power”. The figures below, are dancing Kachina’s more traditional in design representing the super natural, the power of the unknown, the unexplained. Electricity, its energy and the many benefits it delivers to Americans, their lifestyles, etc. is similar to the many kinds of Katchina that send mystical powers that empower, instruct, and energize the child, the adult and viewer.
BIO
Jan Meister is a combined media printmaker and mixed media artist who have exhibited internationally. Her work examines the way in which overlooked common everyday objects can take on new meanings when juxtaposed with diverse layers of color, texture, shape and combined with the simple direction and complex identity of line. Her mixed media monoprints portray a characteristic and contemporary style that invites individual responses and interpretations.
Although trained in traditional methods of printmaking, her current approach to combined media printmaking fosters safe, non-toxic and alternative procedures. All these experimental approaches and often unrelated elements blend, almost threatening each other, creating a prototype that is rich, edgy and commanding all at once. Ms. Meisterʼs work appears in the several permanent collections, including the University of Hawaii at
Hilo, the Farmington Museum, NM, Graphic Chemical and Ink, Villa Park IL, Saint Xavier University, Chicago, IL, Daley College, Chicago, IL, Yeisser Art Center, Paducah, KY and the Laredo Center for the Arts, Laredo, TX.
Ms. Meister received her credentials, degrees and formal art training as an artist from Governor State University, University Park, IL, The School of the Art Institute, Chicago, IL, Saint Xavier University, Chicago, IL and The Museum of the Art Institute, Chicago, IL Prints and Drawings Department (associate preparatory of fine works on paper).
I AM American Exhibition 