Jeannie Kamins is a visual artist born in San Francisco, California, in 1941. She studied art from 1958-1962 at the University of California, Los Angeles, and at Emily Carr College of Art, Vancouver, where she graduated with Honours in painting in 1979.
Scope and content
The work, "Chretien Curatorial Quilt" by Jeannie Kamins, 1997, consists of a cloth quilt of fabric with appliquΘ, oil on canvas, and quilting with quotations and text written by Kamins, accompanied by a binder, eighteen pages, 22.5 x 28 cm, containing the texts of statements by Kamin and colour laser prints of images of her work in fabric.
Note
The artist stated: "Fabric is my medium of choice, the public is my audience. Life, close up and intense, is my subject. Bare, blatant and confrontational is my way. Public reaction is my proof of relevance. I have been an artist since 1974 when I left my husband and got serious about ART. Originally a painter, I began to work in fabric, using all those scraps of material I had been saving to make into a quilt. I wasn't a quilt person so one day I made a picture with my fabrics and knew I had found my medium!My imagery was of family life. Both as a mother and as a feminist, I felt that there was too much brutality in the mainstream art images. I felt that it was important to reinforce another vision of the world. At first I worked totally in appliquΘ but became bored with the facility I had in making these pieces, so I began incorporating other techniques- Xerox transfers, painting on the fabric, tropunto, and the incorporation of wigs and beads into the pieces. In an effort to recognize the true heroes of our society, in 1983 I began to portray the unsung heroes of our society. Artist and people who do not cater to main stream standards. By 1986 I was known as a Canadian artist with exhibitions across Canada, and several Canada Council Grants. I was writing regularly both articles and reviews. I had coordinated an important art conference and exhibition of B.C. women artist in 1982 and in 1988 curated a national exhibition dealing with censorship in the arts. Yet, since I had chosen the general public as my audience and not the artistic elite, I still was not shown in main stream galleries.In frustration I began to move into other mediums, to paint, to curate and perform. In 1986 my political performance piece, 'Amazing Grace' where I ridiculed BC's Social Credit party funding to welfare recipients received international coverage. My exhibition of paintings dealing with issues of racism was exhibited in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and Hamilton. Still I did not fit into the art establishment. I began to analyze what art was about. It was obviously not about monetary success. I realized that I was an artist because of a need to satisfy the artistic imperative within myself. I had chosen the general public as the receiver of my ideas and made great efforts to bring my art to people by showing my work in unconventional places - restaurants, theaters, etc. where more people can respond to the messages. In 1993 as 'Artists-in-Residence' with the Burnaby Arts Centre I set up residence in a shopping mall. As a commitment to art in public places, I began making murals. I have made them in places as diverse as a barn in Texas to the halls of schools here in Vancouver. I see my work as quite versatile in both style and content. The "homespun" work, my fabric pieces, are about real life and our familial interactions. The fabric portraits are of people who have made significant contributions to the world, in political, social and artistic realms. My paintings continue to be powerful work with the intent to effect social insight and change. My murals and choice of venue for exhibitions re emphasize my commitment to a lay audience. In February of 1995 I became Cultural Arts Coordinator of the Vancouver Jewish Community Centre. In this role I run the Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery. This has included curating many exhibition each year, and presenting discussions and panels on various issues in the arts. In May of 1997 I was 'downsized' from the JCC and am again a self employed artist."
