Today we’d like to introduce you to Jill Sykes.
Jill, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I grew up in the West San Fernando Valley. Both my parents were film people as were the parents of a lot of kids I grew up with. My dad studied photography at UCLA & Art Center before the war, where he shot film for the Army Signal Corps in Europe.
When he returned, he worked as a cameraman in the early days of television & eventually became a producer & editor for educational & industrial films. My mother – a musician – ran the research department at Disney for about 25 years during the war & well into my childhood.
Our house was full of books & music & art & interesting people, & I was always greatly encouraged to be an artist – a privilege I didn’t realize was so unique until I got into art school & found so many people who had to fight their families to be artists.
Also, the public school system back then had tremendous resources for art, music & drama. I had an art class of some sort every single day of school K-12; I am absolutely certain those classes are what kept me in school every single day – I literally couldn’t wait to get there.
By the time I graduated high school I had an incredible portfolio, was more than capable of working in just about any medium & eager to learn any new art technique I encountered.
My first job out of high school was painting a large mural for an amusement park called Beverly Park – a mainstay of LA childhood for about 40 years before it was sold & turned into The Beverly Center.
I later landed a seasonal job for 3 years as a portrait artist on Main Street at Disneyland; this is where I learned that drawing every single day – even relatively rote profile portraits – did wonders for one’s skill set. It didn’t matter what I was drawing, only that I was drawing.
After my last summer at the park, I got back to school in September & the difference in my drawing was astounding. The one truly practical bit of advice I gleaned from my parents about going to art school was: learn to do something you can actually make a living with.
So I studied Illustration & Graphic Design, which I loved, & even though I switched my focus to painting many years ago, the skills & discipline I learned doing design work serves me well to this day.
Has it been a smooth road?
I doubt there is any such thing as a smooth road. Moving back to Los Angeles after art school, I was fortunate enough to work for a small animation ink & paint company for many years where I had a paintbrush in my hand every day. Whenever a design project came up, I was always free to leave for that & return to the animation when it was finished – incredibly generous of the woman who owned this little company to allow for that.
My biggest struggles were always financial – being a freelance designer & learning how to deal with clients can be a real challenge, & these issues were rarely if ever discussed during my art education; we were more feverishly focused on skills, so I hit the job market totally cold in that regard. But I loved it & learned.
Shifting professional gears to fine art painting in the late ’80’s presented yet another steep learning curve – it felt like people were speaking a different language, but again – I loved it & learned.
We’d love to hear more about what you do.
My work is very focused on shapes & the negative spaces within those shapes – looking back at the illustration & design work I did many years ago I definitely see the connection: I have always been fascinated with these amorphic shapes that individually are just interesting blobs, but combined create something else altogether different & beautiful.
I think I am mostly known for the botanical paintings I’ve been creating for many years, now – the first time I went off in that direction experimenting with oils (after making acrylic abstracts for many years) was a true epiphany. I look for a sense of calm & movement in these images & am always so pleased when people walk into my studio & react to exactly that. Surface & color are extremely important, too.
I have worked with many art consultants and architects on various projects. One of the most interesting jobs I’ve had was designing a shadow motif that was sandblasted onto the entire outside of a newly constructed house in Pacific Palisades called SYCAMORE HOUSE – https://www.codaworx.com/project/sycamore-house-michael-kovac.
I recently completed another project for this same architect; incredibly gratifying to be asked back. Not too long after I finished SYCAMORE HOUSE, I was given the opportunity to create an installation at the Museum of Art + History (MOAH) in Lancaster, CA.
I designed another shadow motif, this time based on the yucca trees that grow wild in the area. YUCCA FOREST consisted of 18 nearly 10’ tall tree silhouettes cut out of white vinyl. The window space is approximately 10 x 40’ overall, & the changing light & shadows played continuously on the floor & glass – https://www.codaworx.com/project/yucca-forest-museum-of-art-history-moah.
Last year I started on a series in honor of American suffragists – 12 14 x 14″ panels, each commemorating a woman who marched & fought for women’s right to vote. This series is being expanded upon for an upcoming exhibition at The Brand Library & Art Center. I love working on large canvases, but I enjoy working on smaller pieces, as well. It’s a different mindset to work small – the process is very meditative & intimate.
I have an ongoing series of small, gold leaf images of branches & leaves on paper or acrylic – the largest of those tend to be around 12 x 12.” I also have a series I call “Laundry” – literally silhouetted images of clothes hanging on the line, generally all painted in white acrylic against various colored backgrounds. On occasion I will add in a cat or a dog – I find them incredibly charming & fun to work on.
Ultimately what I have come to realize about my work is that it is a search for a kind of serenity – a safe place. Henri Matisse once said: “I am painting a place where I want to be.” I read that quote & instantly recognized what I was doing. We as artists create objects that nourish and enrich existence, and as such, what we do, consciously or not, has profound an effect.
What’s your favorite memory from childhood?
As a child, I was always drawing & painting – thankfully no one ever discouraged me, quite the opposite. A series of seemingly unrelated events spread out over decades recently brought this memory to mind: growing up I spent a lot of time at my grandparent’s home, & in the afternoons I would nap in the guest bedroom that looked out onto the big front lawn. I would lie on the bed staring at the shadows dancing on the walls & ceiling through the lace curtains. It was incredibly dreamy.
Many, many years later, I connected that dancing shadow memory to the imagery I was creating as I was painting. I shared the story with the collectors who bought that painting and who, unbeknownst to me, lived directly across the street from my grandparent’s old house. My painting hangs in their master bedroom facing the trees. The “coincidence” was lost on none of us.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jillsykes.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JillSykesArtist/ https://www.facebook.com/jill.sykes.16
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