Jeanette Ramage

Having received a B.F.A. from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and subsequently an M.F.A. from the Maryland Institute in Baltimore, Jeanette Ramage began her intense search to discover how best to share the thoughts which rummaged throughout her creative mind.  She experimented unabashedly, without reserve, always attempting to find the right way (for her) to say what she wanted to say.  The impulses and drives continue and she willingly admits that she will never, in all probability, become completely satisfied.  She continues a mentally and artistically healthy struggle to find the very best ways to “share my messages.”

Ms. Ramage discontinued working in traditional and realistic styles.  Her work remains an ongoing study of how recognizable imagery is broken down and transformed through the process of fragmenting space.  The object is (as she expresses it) to play “hide and seek” with the picture plane, blurring the boundaries between abstractions and representations.  Her work is built up in layers of recognizable imagery juxtaposed with paint and colored paper.  She paints, photographs, rearranges various positions of photographic reproductions, paints over them again and again and finally completes a work.

The lush vegetation and sparkling waterways, the ocean breezes and the colorful tropical birds, all of which she so enjoys in Florida, have altered the way she sees the world.  It continues to open new ways for more whimsical forms, striking colors and luminous tropical lights.

“For me,” says Ms. Ramage, “the process of making art is as important as the end product itself.  I have become fascinated with the media of paint and papers.  I really enjoy the sleekness of the paper and the sensuous quality of the paint and the way they seem to complement each other.  The paintings remind me of the exquisite fragmentation of form, color, and space when looking through a kaleidoscope.”