To look at the artwork of Joel Carson Jones, who, in 2008 was granted Living Master status by the International Art Renewal Center, is to realize what everyone thinks a work of art should be. Shocking and unbelievable in its execution, thoughts turn to the huge gap between one’s own ability to come close to such a feat.
 If there is such a thing as art appreciation, it is immediately felt when one realizes this artist had the viewer in mind with every stroke of the brush, not only elevating the value of the art piece itself, but the experience of the viewer as well. It is why when one sees casual, spontaneous, abstract art, it is easy to judge it as not being “real” art, knowing it required so much less skill, discipline, and sacrifice.
It is rare in this day and age to find “real” art anywhere but in museums, painted generations ago by artists who worked in schools, carefully passing down an extensive body of knowledge that need not only be comprehended, but put into practice with intensity and long-suffering.
Perhaps unknown to most Wyoming Valley dwellers, a small group of artists has risen up and is achieving this age-old mastery, passing it on to each member, bringing new vitality to our local culture, and finding national recognition as well.
So it is with Jones, a private man laboring 12 hours a day with little pause, in order to embrace and resurrect the Atelier Method of painting and produce his visual eye candy by purely human perception and coordination.
The Atelier Method is a form of fine art instruction often modeled after the private art studio schools of 15th- to 19th-century Europe. Taking its name from the French word for “artist’s studio”, an Atelier consists of an artist, usually a professional painter, working with a small number of students to train them in art.
Jones is not only an artist in this method, but was trained by his mentor and close friend, Anthony Waichulis. He now has a group of students advancing in the craft beside him as well.
Ateliers train students in the skills and techniques associated with creating some form of representational art, the making of two-dimensional images that appear real to the viewer, an anomaly in an age in which images are copied, pasted, printed, and transferred electronically in gluttonous mass.
Atelier uses a technique called sight-sizing, a method of drawing and painting an object exactly as it appears to the artist on a one-to-one scale. The artist first sets a vantage point in which the subject and the drawing surface appear to be the same size. Then, using a variety of measuring tools that can include strings, sticks, mirrors, levels, and plumb bobs, the artist draws the subject so that, when viewed from the set vantage point, the drawing and the subject have exactly the same dimensions. When properly done, sight-size drawing can result in extremely accurate and realistic drawings.
When using a computer to zoom in on one of Jones’s paintings, his attention to detail is obvious, leaving the viewer to wonder if it was not only skill but a degree of pure madness. By his own admission, it is his new wife who brings him peace, balance, and inspiration apart from his painting schedule.
“As a special gift for my wife, Antoinette, I painted a 5x7” oil painting depicting our unity to each other,” said Jones. “The piece includes our wedding rings on top of our wedding invitation, with a pink rose given to Antoinette at her wedding shower. My wife is wonderful and she brings balance and true inspiration to my life.”
Though never having early training, Jones’s artistic ability came to light in an elementary school aptitude test. His teachers were concerned with his apathy and disinterest toward his regular classes. In reality, his only interest was in drawing. Part of the testing measured his hand/eye coordination, and the results astonished the parties concerned when he rendered the photos they asked him to copy with almost photographic precision.
“I was always drawn to realism, believing from my youth that it was the most challenging, subtle, and deceiving,” he said.
Jones descends from a line of creative talent from both sides of his family––musicians, singers, and filmmakers––and he received ample encouragement from his parents.
Later he apprenticed with Anthony Waichulis, at the Waichulis Studio.
“Anthony Waichulis, one of my closest friends and greatest influences, has been an unselfish motivating force in my work and in the process of gaining exposure,” Jones said. “He reinforces the need for discipline and the drive to succeed in the studio, to step away from the easel after weeks of work almost satisfied with the product, but wholly content with the effort.”
Waichulis was also the first artist Jones knew personally who showed him that it was possible to make a living at his chosen craft.
Jones completed his undergraduate work at Marywood University, in Scranton, and also studied abroad in Angers, France. His education continues, however, each day at work alone, but more so with his own students now. In the Atelier setting, he is constantly brought back to the basics, the rudiments of all great art––drafting, value, contrast, and discipline––alongside hisstudents. Sometimes, he wonders who the real teachers are.
He teaches adolescents and adults Monday through Wednesday for three hours each session. He gets a great deal of pride and satisfaction watching his students skills and abilities improve.
“I’m overwhelmed to realize that in 2011 we are part of a new Renaissance, building upon the Atelier system of the ancient, Renaissance, and contemporary masters,” Jones said. “I believe it is vital not only to master the skills of those who have come before me, but to add to that legacy of Realism, to raise the bar for generations to come. I want to be a cog in the timeless mechanism of artists searching for themselves and for clear messages in honest, realistic depictions of our lives. It is a great feeling to pass this information onto my students, continuing the rich tradition of representational drawing and painting.”
Visit www.joelcarsonjones.com
|
