Artist's statement
Jennifer Young in her Ashland, Virginia, studio
"Painting is the language I use to express my reverence for the beauty of the natural world. The delicacy of a flower, the power of the ocean waves, the brilliance of a sunset; all are awe-inspiring and represent one of our greatest gifts in this life, worthy of celebrating and protecting. I paint and draw from life as often as possible. Painting in nature, "en plein air", I learn to hone my skills of observation and distill the complexities of a scene down to its essentials. Bringing what I've learned back into the studio, I can then expand on my ideas with varied explorations in color, composition, and format. Ultimately it is my sincere hope that through my work I can inspire a renewed appreciation for art of the landscape and for Nature herself, as well as a desire to preserve the landscape for future generations." - Jennifer Young
Biographical Summary
Jennifer Young is a listed artist who lives and works in Ashland, Virginia. She creates vibrant landscape oil paintings of the American south and of various scenes throughout Europe. She received her formal training in painting and art history at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. During college and after graduation, her focus was largely centered on exploring the human figure.
As an art history major with a concentration in painting, Young traveled to Europe and she was particularly drawn to the painters of the early Renaissance. She loved the drama and theatricality of those paintings, and sought to incorporate a similar kind of emotional narrative into her own work. Her early figurative paintings garnered gallery and museum shows in United States, including venues such as the Hofstra Museum and Purdue University.
But fate and life would intervene to profoundly affect her art. As Young explains in her own words, "When my father died from pancreatic cancer, I went through a great deal of introspection. Gradually I turned from painting large psychological figurative works to exploring a different kind of painting tradition--the landscape. I found myself wanting more and more to create in a way that was personally more life affirming; and the act of getting out of the studio to paint directly from nature was in the beginning a way for me to lift my own spirits.
"I had always been drawn to landscape paintings," she continues, "and I would occasionally experiment with them, even in my 'figurative' days. But the summer after my father died, my husband bought me a great birthday gift--my first outdoor easel. It was then that I explored the art of outdoor painting, or painting 'en plein air' in a serious way. It was exhilarating!" From that point on, Young says she was hooked on painting the landscape.
Her renewed love of landscape painting naturally led her to explore in greater depth the paintings of the French Impressionists; namely Monet, Renoir, and Sisley. She also has continued her education along the way, studying with living masters Kevin Macpherson, Kenn Backhaus, and Matt Smith, among others. Her love of the landscape has taken her on many adventures to Europe and to scenic places in the American South to develop fresh new ideas for her paintings.
While she regularly paints on location, Jennifer also works in her Ashland studio. Jennifer currently shows her work in art galleries on the U.S east coast, as well as in her online gallery at www.jenniferyoung.com.
Artist's Resume
Education: BFA, cum laude in Art History (studio track), Virginia Commonwealth University, 1994
Exhibitions, Publications, and Honors
Visit this link for gallery representation
September 2018: Participating artist in Plein Air Westhampton Invitational, Richmond, Virginia
April 2018: Participating artist in Plein Air Unleashed event sponsored by Allure Art Center
August 2017: Participating artist in Plein Air Floyd, Floyd, Virginia
June 2017: Jennifer was awarded a two-week artist's residency in Vinalhaven, Maine
June 2017: Featured artist at Cabell Gallery, Lexington, VA
August 2015 - 2017 Ongoing exhibitions at Gallery Flux, Ashland, VA and City Art Gallery, Greenville, NC.
June 2015: Featured artist and demo at the Little Gallery on Smith Mountain Lake, Moneta, VA.
March 2015: Jennifer's painting "Winter Sunset, North Run Creek", was selected as part of the FAV15% (jury's favorite 15% of the entries) in the March 2015 FASO/Fine Art Views BoldBrush Painting competition.
July 2014: Jennifer's plein air paintings were featured in Plein Air Magazine's EZine OutdoorPainter.com.
May 2013: Featured artist at Design Domaine Gallery in Bernardsville, NJ.
April- June 2013: Featured artist at the H. Scott November Gallery at Westminster Canterbury, Richmond, VA.
February 2013: Jennifer was commissioned to paint 7 original paintings for author Frances Mayes' Tuscan Sun Wines new line of wine labels.
Spring 2011: Jennifer was spotlighted in the May/June issue of Southern Lady Magazine, a lifestyle magazine of gracious living distributed in the US and Canada by Hoffman Media.
November 2009: Holiday small works invitational, Miller Gallery in Cincinnati, OH.
September 2009: Jennifer was one of 24 artists chosen to participate in the Paint Annapolis 2009 plein air painting competition.
August 2009: Two-person exhibit at City Art Gallery in Greenville, NC with Hilarie Lambert of paintings from our European travels.
2008: Honorable Mention, "Dueling Brushes" quick draw competition, Annapolis, MD.
February 2007: Participating artist in "Landscape in Art- The Continuum IV", City Art Gallery, Greenville, NC.
January 2007: Participating artist in the annual small works show, Rentz Gallery, Richmond, VA.
Jennifer Young Studio & Gallery was featured in a Nov. 30, 2006 issue of Richmond's new alternative paper "Brick Weekly".
December 2006: Grand opening of Jennifer Young Studio & Gallery, Richmond, VA.
October 2006: First Annual Landscape Invitational at the Rentz Gallery, Richmond, VA.
June 2006: Participating artist in "The Southern Landscape" invitational at Huff Harrington Fine Art, Atlanta, GA.
February 2006: Participating artist in the Small Works Invitational at the Rentz Gallery, Richmond, VA.
February 2006: Featured artist in "Interiors and Exteriors" exhibit at City Art Gallery, Greenville, NC.
November 2005: Featured artist at Sage Moon Gallery, Charlottesville, VA, "Travels Far and Near: Paintings of France, Italy, and Virginia by Jennifer Young".
April, 2005: Art Featured on the cover of Charlottesville Arts & Entertainment Magazine.
April 2005: Featured artist at Wave Gallery, Key West, FL.
May 2004: Featured artist and painting demo at Andrew's Gallery, Richmond, VA.
April 2004: Featured artist at the Little Gallery on Smith Mt. Lake, Moneta, VA.
March 2004: Art Featured in Atlanta Woman Magazine.
February 2004: Featured artist at City Art Gallery, Greenville, NC, "Landscape in Art, The Continuum".
September 2003: Featured artist at the Left Bank Gallery in St Simons Island, GA, "Modern Impressionists".
June 2003: Featured artist in a painting demo at the Little Gallery on Smith Mt. Lake, Moneta, VA
2002: Figurative paintings exhibited as part of two group shows in April and May at the Aquiles Adler Gallery in Richmond, VA.
2001: One person exhibition at the Eastern Shore Art Center, Woolley Gallery, Fairhope, AL.
2000: One person exhibition at Purdue University Calumet, Hammond, IN.
2000: Group exhibition, "New Works by Sigrid Burton, Rosenfeld, and Jennifer Young", Hofstra Museum, Hempstead, NY.
1993-99
Juried exhibition, " Virginia Artists '99," Fredericksburg Center for the Creative Arts, Fredericksburg, VA.
Solo exhibits, 1998 - Gallery of Contemporary Art, Corporate & Museum Frame; Fine Art Framing/The Gallery Space; Riverfront Towers Gallery Space, Richmond, VA.
Group Invitational, 1998 -"The City Within," Art Space, Richmond, VA.
'Bytes of Art' Interactive Exhibit, 1997 - Center for Visual Art, Oakland, CA.
Multiple group exhibits, 1996 - 97 - Shockoe Bottom Arts Center, Sarah D. November Gallery, Richmond, VA.
Annual juried exhibition 1993, Anderson Gallery, Richmond, VA.
Other Press/Publications:
Jennifer Young has been listed in Lonnie Pierson Dunbier'sThe Artists Bluebook since 2005; 32,000 North American Artists 16th Century to March of 2005. The Artist's Bluebook is a directory of www.AskART.com artists that lists market values and other pertinent information at a glance.
