We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jocelyn Fine. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jocelyn below.
Jocelyn , we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
I have been an artist my whole life. I come from a multi-generational family of artists, filmmakers, collectors, and gallerists. My great-aunt was one of the first female gallerists in NYC; my mother is a sculptor, one brother is a painter, another is a filmmaker and my sister is the head of an Art Finance company. I have always been curious about artistic materials and the history embedded in art. My degree in art conservation fueled my fascination with the search for what lies beneath the surface, and two decades of teaching art to young children has hugely impacted my approach to art-making. A cancer diagnosis in 2014 marked a pivotal moment in my life, propelling me into a journey of introspection and compelling me to delve deeper into the spiritual world. I started thinking about my mortality and developed a growing awareness of human fragility. This thinking inspired a new body of work. I started to concentrate on the spiritual essence imprinted in nature. I began painting from memory. What emerged were dreamy landscapes that transcended time; residing deep in my consciousness. They conveyed stories, emphasizing the vastness and power of the natural world, and the fleeting nature of human existence.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I paint from memory and am fascinated by the emotions associated with the natural world. I spent most of my childhood summers traveling in a blue Chevy van that my dad outfitted into a home for the 6 of us. Tables transformed into beds, and draped netting became suspended sleeping cocoons for us kids. From this peripatetic home, we visited nearly every national park, crisscrossing the U.S., Canada, and Western Europe. The vibration of colors, rhythm, shapes, and forms of these magnificent places left indelible impressions, in my consciousness. We kept journals of our travels, and unlike my sibling’s long-written diary entries, mine were mostly drawings, postcards, and magazine clippings. The exhilaration of seeing the Badlands of South Dakota or Switzerland’s Mount Rigi as a young child remains with me. The vibration of colors, the rhythm, and the shapes and forms are all reminiscent of the places that I saw and the feelings that they stirred up in me.
I believe there is an energy in nature that unifies and connects everything. This energy lives inside me in the form of shapes and colors that convey emotions. When I paint, I recall the feelings and the spiritual essence I associated with these places that I have seen. Most of these memories are not fully formed. I recreate and reconfigure them in my language. I realize how important the role of travel plays in my work, and how much it inspires and impacts my growth and development. Painting landscapes is time travel for me. Unveiling these memories and turning them into images provides a bridge between what once was and what is now. These paintings are the story that my body has held on to and the feelings that I associated with these places that I have seen as a child. My landscapes allow me to explore my connection to nature’s energy and the universal human condition that binds us to one another and the world we inhabit.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Make art for yourself. Every time I make a painting, I learn something new about myself. Not only is art a form of expression but also an unavailing of you. It’s easy to get caught up in making art that is ‘marketable’ or saleable but if your heart is not in your work, it shows. People pick up on that right away.
Show up. Go to work and practice regularly. Being in my studio regularly is essential. I need to be there, even if I am just experimenting, looking through my reference books, or cleaning the studio. Making art and being in the space every day is essential. You need to be present for the moment when inspiration reveals itself. I have one teacher who used to always say “Don’t leave the premises”. Show up and be ready because when you get that moment of creative expression, you have to be there to let it flow through you. Be curious. I am constantly looking, collecting, and culling together information from my environment. When you need inspiration, change your environment, take a walk in nature. notice the people around you. I have been teaching art to young students for 20 years and I learn so much from them. To watch any child in active play is to witness the entire spectrum of human emotions: exhilaration, anger, joy, satisfaction, frustration. I try to approach each canvas with this same curiosity—the sense of unknown; What is going to happen? What will come up?
Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?
My mother, Joan Fine has been my primary inspiration. She has been an artist her entire life and just last year had a 60 Year Retrospective of her art. She has worked with large stone carvings to intricate, whimsical paper-mache characters. At age 82, she still makes art every day.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jocelynfine.com
- Instagram: jocelyn.fineart
- Linkedin: jocelynfine
- Other: representation TheFormah Gallery BAM art advisory Saatchi
Image Credits
Nick Lee
