A Life’s Work

Classical Art > “This collection of paintings, in their stillness and silence, are a record and a gift of this time,” says Aristides.

The Customs House Museum and Cultural Center in Clarksville, Tennessee has announced its 2021 gallery calendar with an exhibition of paintings by award-winning realist Juliette Aristides. Featured in the Museum’s Orgain and Bruner galleries, the show includes still life and interior scenes, as well as a suite of figurative pieces.

The year 2020 and the changes to our “norms” brought a chance for reflection and observation. For Aristides, it allowed time to explore and document objects in the environment she lives in. In her new exhibition, “A Life’s Work,” the artist focuses on quiet moments, documenting light and shadow that fill her studio and home. The artist says of the work, “This year has been one of solitude and introspection set against a backdrop of intense disruption – a pendulum of extremes. My body of work is centered on a deep appreciation for the simple and unchanging parts of my everyday life.”

She goes on to say, “This collection of paintings, in their stillness and silence, are a record and a gift of this time. The aim of many art forms, from poetry to painting, is to return home and see it as if for the first time. As William Steig once said, ‘Art… has the power to make any spot on earth the living center of the universe.”

Paintings such as Aristides’ “The Atelier” bring out the artist’s understanding of sunlight and its dramatic effect on everyday surfaces. The reflective gleam highlights the polish of a thick wooden table and the soft curvy silhouette of the sculpture that quietly holds its place on the side.

Curator Terri Jordan states, “Juliette is one of the best contemporary painters of light. Her ability to portray that bit of afternoon sun coming into a windowsill and reflecting on a pewter pot is unmatched. You can feel the warmth in her paintings, and a sense of time standing still for one tranquil gaze by the viewer. They tend to draw you into your own memories.”

Aristides lives in Seattle, where she is the founder and instructor of the Classical Atelier at the Gage Academy of Fine Art. She teaches workshops both nationally and internationally and is cofounder of the Da Vinci Initiative, which provides artistic training to public school educators nationally. Well known for her figurative drawings, Juliette is the author of several instructional books including Classical Drawing Atelier: A Contemporary Guide to Traditional Studio Practice, Classical Painting Atelier: A Contemporary Guide to Traditional Studio Practice, Lessons in Classical Drawing and Lessons in Classical Painting, published by Watson-Guptill, NY.

The classical art of Juliette Aristides in “A Life’s Work” will be on view through March 31, 2021. For more information, please visit customshousemuseum.org.

Juliette Aristides is one of the world’s leading experts in the “lost art” of the classical technique — a technique that captures the purity and deep emotion within the human form like no other can.

In her art video workshop, “Secrets of Classical Painting,” you’ll learn her expert techniques so you can

Create beautiful and inspirational depictions of your subject…
Elicit a deep and powerful emotional connection with your viewers…
Find a sense of harmony and movement within your own creative vision…

.
Learn more about “Secrets of Classical Painting” here.

> Sign up to receive Fine Art Today, our free weekly e-newsletter

> Click here to subscribe to Fine Art Connoisseur magazine, so you never miss an issue