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Jaylene Armstrong
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jaylene@ca-productions.com
Art Advocate, Artist & Instructor
An "IDEA" person who
promotes, pursues, researches
and works tirelessly to make art important in the lives of people and
the community.
A long time ago a dear friend of mine said to me, "Jaylene , there
are two things that I know you love - your son Cort, and Art."
YES indeed this was very true and has never changed.
It would take several articles to chronicle all of my adventures
involving my son and visual art.
Let's begin by telling you I migrated to Santa Clarita, CA from Madison, Wisconsin. As I reflect on my life there are dates I remember with fondness:
the birth of my son, my marriage to an Art Professor, living in Rangoon, Burma, (Myanmar), my first teaching job that lasted 26 years, being elected to the
National Art Education Association
Board in Washington, DC. as a Vice President, sitting on the board of the Wisconsin Art Education Association as President for two years and developing the first Summer National Art Education Summer Conference held in 1980,
creating the first "Youth Art Month Art Exhibit" at the capital
in Madison (with the Governor presiding), my trip to Europe and seeing the beautiful Michelangelo's "DAVID " in Florence, and the
"PIETA" in Rome.
I retired in 1992 and I had over 30 student art teachers during
the 26 years work with me in learning how to teach art professionally.
I wrote many state and local grants for my school.
One exciting highpoint was winning a National Office of Education Grant
(in Washington D.C.) $10,000 dollars for my school to bring in visiting artists to perform for the students.
I joined the SCAA to help bring more awareness of the visual arts to
the community, and in 2006 succeeded in receiving a Santa Clarita Community Grant to teach After School Art Enrichment Classes to 45 children in the Newhall School District. A great experience.
I also chaired the SCAA 2006 Art Classic - with many good volunteers.
 David Hockney's "Collage Photography" caught my eye
and I entered my first photo collage
"Catch Me If You Can" (right) in the 2007 Art Classic and won an award.
The photos are of spiral stair steps I had photographed
in a building in Chicago, and the lobster traps are from a trip
I
made to Martha's vineyards. I began placing these different photo shapes
together and then adding other linear shapes. I never knew how this would
turn
out when I started but I knew when to stop.
 I
began working with chalk pastels after I moved to California. I took an
art class on different painting techniques while living in Marin and
the instructor showed pictures by American pastel painter Wolf Kahn.
WOW! was I impressed and I bought his book and pastels and began to
create. Kahn paints abstract landscapes with wild FAUVE colors of
pink, orange, purple and red trees. All the colors I love, and I
love to draw trees so my pastels are always of trees and landscapes in
either diptych or triptych compositions. "Can You Imagine"
(pastel, left)
A major part of my creative time is creating 'HIGH END JEWELRY'
with semi-precious stones
from different cultures around the world. Each piece is "One-of- a- Kind." I exhibit and sell my jewelry here in
Southern California Art Festivals. I love the Malibu Art Festival.
The Red Cinnabar beads (right) are from China. They are made
from layers of lacquer. Using silver beads with the round carved
cinnabar makes a strong Museum Gallery like design which is what I
strive for in my jewelry. You can see more of my jewelry by
visiting
http://www.ca-productions.com/jc/
Art is a human experience that is so easily overlooked and not appreciated. In spite of the fact we all use many components of art everyday in our lives.
Few people recognize , understand or appreciate the elements of art and design that surround us. It takes much time to become aware of the History of Art and learn how art has prevailed in all
civilizations as a record of human accomplishments. Yes indeed, I am a strong Art Advocate... can you tell?
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Thank you to our Sponsors!
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Plenty Road, Suite 8
Canyon Country, CA 91351
661.298.1220 ~
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24618
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26893
Bouquet Canyon Road, Ste. C-110
Saugus, CA 91350
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