Artist Profile: Jayne Richards

Grand Marais-based painter Jayne Richards talks about her journey as an artist leading to her exhibition at Johnson Heritage Post Art Gallery on-view through January 7, 2024.

WTIP’s Chuck Olsen spoke with Jayne about her work on January 3. The interview transcript and audio are below.

JAYNE RICHARDS
I’m Jayne Richards, I’m from Grand Marais, grew up here but lived in Grand Portage for 25 years and have returned to Grand Marais to live here about 10-12 years ago. But we’re at the Johnson Gallery which is a little gem inside Grand Marais and I was pleased enough to have an exhibit here that was arranged for two years ago. And two years ago I got a grant from the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council to prepare for this show.

And so over the last two years I’ve been painting pictures and getting themes as to what I would like to develop for this show. And also selling at the Cook County Market next to the Senior Center, the Hub, all summer and getting feedback from people buying my paintings as to what they liked and what it meant to them.

And so having this opportunity to be in a gallery where people can take their time and the pictures don’t fly away with the wind is excellent for me because that’s what I’m used to is being outside. We had a great opening on December 15th and the show has been up with a few breaks for the holidays and it will continue until this coming Sunday, the 7th. And then I’ll be taking it down and looking for a new home for the remaining pieces.

CHUCK OLSEN
Okay, so folks hearing this will have one more one weekend to see it. This is called Spirit of Place?

JAYNE RICHARDS
It’s called Spirit of Place which to me, have you ever walked into a room and said, oh I like this? And I think a lot of people have come to this place and said the same thing, oh I like this because they keep coming back. But I keep coming back mainly because this is my home but to identify the pieces that make it special, that give it the spirit that you want to return to, I created in paintings.

So these paintings are all places, things that meant something to me and my medium is acrylic paint. Some of them are ink and some of them are pencil but most of the newer work is all done in acrylic. Now this show has given me an opportunity to show a few of my older pieces, one dating back to 1976 in fact that I obtained this summer from a friend who found it at a garage sale.

But I love the piece and I’m so glad to show it here. And there’s two other pieces that have been donated to the just to show from two other people that own them. And so they kind of round out the show with some of my past work with some of my more current work.

And I’ve had an exciting time developing new ways of working with my medium and also exploring the places that mean something to me or just reflect something universal.

CHUCK OLSEN
When did you first pick up the paintbrush and where were you inspired to pick up a paintbrush?

JAYNE RICHARDS
I grew up in Grand Marais just above the North House Folk School and sat at my mom’s kitchen table drawing the lighthouse from the kitchen table. So this was also the era when Bernie Quick and the Bradleys and Turners were doing the art colony. And so there was always some art going on around.

And so I just kind of watched everyone else. And then I also had a wonderful artist as my first grade teacher, Mary Pratt, who some people around here will remember as a wonderful watercolor artist. That continued.

And I eventually took an art class, went to college and decided I wanted to do art. But I decided to live up here and so college got delayed until 1999. I went back to college and completed my Bachelor of Fine Art and really immersed myself into drawing, photography, and the digital mediums.

So I also work as a graphic designer. So the grant, my education has brought me to be painting most of the time now. And the opportunity at the market is to sell to people that enjoy this area.

And I reflect the area in my artwork. So that’s kind of the backstory.

CHUCK OLSEN
Yeah. And so being inspired by Grand Marais and the North Shore has always been there for you?

JAYNE RICHARDS
Very much so. And when I lived in Grand Portage, I got to know George Morrison and Hazel Belvo. And I would say George was a very much an inspiration.

His work with line and the horizon and his choice of color were very, very inspirational to me. And so of all the artists that I’ve known, I’ve known a lot of native artists having been in Grand Portage. And I’ve known a lot of other artists through my education.

But George was probably the most influential in a very low keyed way. So I don’t think my work reflects his at all, like some people do. But it does tell me to keep it simple, keep that line, and to reflect the area the best I can.

CHUCK OLSEN
Wonderful. And did you say that you lived on Horseshoe Bay, or was it Hollow Rock?

JAYNE RICHARDS
I lived in Hollow Rock Bay. Yeah. So right on the lake.

It’s very cold right at the lake!

CHUCK OLSEN
But a lot of inspiration.

JAYNE RICHARDS
I did not do a lot of artwork when my kids were growing up. And it was just too confusing to try and do any of that. I only started doing my painting after I was on my own after 1999 and pursued it because I had the time.

So this is late in life type artwork, but a long time in coming.

CHUCK OLSEN
You had a second blossoming.

JAYNE RICHARDS
Well, I think it’s more of a growth. And I think every artist can go through stages. And so a lot of these pieces are from my personal collection.

And they represent the growth to me as an artist. And I keep them for that purpose. And they hang on my walls to show me the stages that I’ve gone through, so that I can know where I’ve been.

So I can not be afraid to keep trying something new. And they’ve been successful, the new pieces, the new pieces have sold here. I’m very happy with the sales the gallery has facilitated for me.

And this facility is just awesome. And the director is awesome. And I’m very grateful to have this opportunity.

My plans for the future are to continue selling at the market, and maybe a couple other places to hang some of my bigger pieces. But also I hope to do another exhibit in about two or three years.

CHUCK OLSEN
Great. Do you want to talk a little bit about kind of where your work is at now? The word that comes to mind for me is geometry, and a sort of really compelling abstract geometry. I’m looking at the rocks and the waterfall over there right now. And there’s the birch piece is what sold and that has some interesting…

JAYNE RICHARDS
That had a lot of that angular angular visions on it. I’ve done some pieces in the past that kind of build up to that more linear type things. Basically, most people know me for painting rocks and trees.

So I have a fascination with rocks. I grew up with grandparents on both sides that were rock hounds. And I chipped a lot of Thompsonite.

So I love rocks. And so being able to paint them and study their formations, and using my training in design to make them into compelling art pieces is kind of the full circle with the rocks. I’ll continue doing rocks and water and landscape, and explore maybe some more of the angular pieces.

But there’s been a few pieces in my background that got to that point. So they aren’t just out of the blue. They’re developed.

CHUCK OLSEN
Stepping stones.

JAYNE RICHARDS
Yeah. And that’s why I keep certain pieces on my wall to let me know, okay, time to move to the next step.

CHUCK OLSEN
Right. See where you’ve been and points to where you’re going, maybe.

JAYNE RICHARDS
Yeah. And this show is nice to be able to put it all together, to show a little bit of my past, and to show people what I’m doing now, and prepare for next summer in selling outdoors.

CHUCK OLSEN
I’m looking at three rock paintings behind you that are just beautiful. Talk a little bit about the word “spirit,” in spirit of place, and how that relates to rocks and trees, and what that means to you.

JAYNE RICHARDS
Well, I compare it to when you walk on the beach, there’s millions of rocks. And suddenly you bend over, and you pick up one. And you take that one home.

Why? That’s the spirit of place. You find that one piece that fits into your puzzle.

And that’s what my work is about.

CHUCK OLSEN
That’s beautiful. They talk to us. Maybe they choose us.

JAYNE RICHARDS
Yeah, definitely. And I kind of use that as a benchmark as to the pieces that I’m doing. And I love it when people take them home, because that completes my vision.

And a lot of pieces are sold simply because it matched the wallpaper or whatever. But the point being, people were drawn to it.

Just like you are drawn to that piece, that little rock on the beach. And that’s the one you take home. So as a working artist, I consider myself a working artist.

I’m looking for the next idea. And this winter, I hope to develop some of those ideas.

CHUCK OLSEN
I’d like to ask you about the little cedar spirit tree, which is kind of the first thing you see when you walk into the gallery here, a big painting of that. And I was drawn to a smaller painting of that when I met you at the holiday show. I’ve never seen it.

Tell me a little bit about that and your connection to it.

JAYNE RICHARDS
I lived in Grand Portage for 25 years. And through all the different changes of the spirit tree, the little spirit cedar tree, and often went down there. I have pictures of the kids sitting on the rock with the tree behind them.

You know, it was kind of an outing, you know. And there was an exhibit that George put together back in the 70s, 80s, 80s, probably 80s, about the spirit tree. And he hosted it at the Grand Portage Lodge in a room.

And various artists from all over the place submitted work to be in the show. It was a really wonderful show with all sorts of different dynamics going based around the theme of the little spirit cedar tree. And I had a piece in that it was moose hide, canned hope that I completely would burn the spirit tree on.

And that was sold to the Kaneda Gallery back when they were going on down in Lutsen. So that was my first working with the tree as an art form, to be honest. And to see my friends and how they were working with the tree, and putting their spin on the art piece, that was really inspirational for me.

And I think that probably is the reason I started drawing the tree. And I did many hoops with the stretched leather and the wood burn of the tree that hang in many homes still in Grand Portage. So that was my history with that.

CHUCK OLSEN
Folks can see you this weekend and your work at Johnson Heritage Post Gallery. And you’re getting ready to be at the Cook County Market in the summer.

JAYNE RICHARDS
But we’ll be running, I don’t know if there’s been a lot of publicity, the first Saturday every month they’ve arranged a craft show at a hub with a lot of the local artists, and I’ll be one of them. So that’s coming up on Saturday also. So our activity is in town.

CHUCK OLSEN
Great. So you’ll be on the scene in 2024.

JAYNE RICHARDS
I’ll be there. I have a few pieces left at home. Not too many, though. Most are in this show!

CHUCK OLSEN
Great. Well, thanks for speaking with us, Jane, and congrats.

JAYNE RICHARDS
Thank you.

Chuck Olsen January 4, 2024