Jodie Marie Anne Richardson Traugott
Things and People I Love
On this page, I'll share with you some of my history and interests!
Change~ Excitement~ Learning~
These things are all very important to me...how do you feel about them?
Family~ Nature~ Dreams~
I'm sure your list is different but that is what makes life so wonderful - the VARIETY of it all!
All About Me-well, not all!
Change
Korrie Jean, our second daughter when she was about 3. My dad took this photo also and
I will forever love that I've now painted both of our girls from photos that my dad took. Couldn't be better!
"I take pleasure in my transformations. I look quiet... but few know how many women there are in me." Anais Nin
This quote by Anais Nin really explains me completely. I feel like many people, all inside this body that I don’t exactly seem to fit. I’ve had to play many roles in life, some that were pleasant, rewarding, educational and some that were difficult, dull or unsavory. Who am I? Well, I think I must be all of these people, capable of being who I need to be at any given moment, strong, adaptable, open, clever, resourceful and creative.
I consider myself a Renaissance woman with my hand in many disciplines and a love for all artistic ways and means. Because of that, my work is all over the map in style, medium and intent. I look at that as a strength, not a weakness!
I not only like it, I need change I have found, in all parts of my life but in my art work in particular. It keeps me interested, challenged and excited!.
My art reflects my life. My work can be beautiful, ordinary, disturbing, provocative, calming, and thought provoking. I use a fusion of media to push conventional artistic boundaries which present the viewer with my unique perspectives on design and often extreme color. I do art because it is my therapy, my meditation, my reason for being. I cannot live without it and yet I cannot do it every day as a job. I paint when I’m in the mood, whichever mood needs to be expressed from whichever person I am that day. Welcome to my world!
Excitement
So the challenge is to stay engaged with your art work...
For a long time I tried to do what the experts said, have a cohesive style, paint cohesive subject matter, become recognizable and then be famous. That didn't work!
I love so many things, why can't I try them all?
Why can't I do them all?
That leads me directly to my love of learning!
Why can't I learn it all?
"START NOW
START WHERE YOU ARE
START WITH FEAR
START WITH PAIN
START WITH DOUBT
START WITH HANDS SHAKING
START WITH VOICE TREMBLING
JUST START"
author unknown
But I must admit, color is my main addiction! I often use an entire rainbow of colors in just one piece.
Learning
I never liked art right through high school. I 'discovered' it in my early 20's and have never stopped creating since. Photography is my latest love, but I've been a painter for over 50 years and have created well over 1600 paintings.
I started painting because my younger sister suggested that I take a class in oil painting. I did one night-school class and was hooked! I then taught myself for 7 years by getting a book out of the library and copying some painting that I saw. I knew nothing about painting or famous artists but I was determined to try to paint what I saw.
At age 32. I started college full time, I even went Junior year abroad to Florence and Venice Italy. Thank goodness for a very supportive husband at home with the kids!
Seemed like I loved school so much at that point, that I continued on to get my Master's Degree in Fine Art. I think I could be a perpetual student.
Now I not only continue to learn, I teach. I have been teaching painting for many years, working with kids as well as older folk, amd anyone in between, but at this point, I only teach small groups of adults.
That is my joy at the moment.
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Jodie Traugott holds a BA/Summa Cum Laude in Studio Art/Art History from Elmira College 1984, and a Master of Fine Arts degree with a painting concentration from the Rochester Institute of Technology’s Fine Arts College 1986, where she also served as special assistant to the Dean, coordinating exhibition space.
During her college career which began in 1980 as an adult full-time student, she was the first off-campus student to spend her junior-year-abroad studying art and art history in Venice and Florence, Italy. She then was the first art student to create a 100 piece, one-woman art show as an honors project in her senior year.
In addition to other jobs, she has held executive positions at 4 non-profit organizations, the YWCA, a Boys and Girls Club, the Arnot Art Museum and the Artists League of the Sandhills, while continually working as an active artist who has been painting, exhibiting and selling her work for over 50 years.
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I will be happy to send you a copy of my complete bio if you are interested. Just drop me an email at jmartkt@yahoo.com
Ohterwise, I'd like to say thank you, in case you have actually
read all the way down to this point, on this very wordy page!
Namaste
Peace Be With You
Thank You for visiting!