Artist: Jermaine “JP” Powell
Artist Statement:
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the limited social interactions between people in our local communities has drastically affected the way I communicate with the world and also the way I create within it.
I am often asked, “JP, how have you created differently during the COVID-19 pandemic? Have you grown as an artist or suffered creatively? What’s it like to be an artist during the pandemic? How are the new images different from your previous signature works?”
My paintings, both hand painted and digital, in this exhibition explores the subject of my personal art making experience during the 2020-2021 COVID-19 pandemic during quarantine. Many of these paintings were made digitally using a digital drawing tablet, iPhone and/or computer. They explore human relationships and materialism.
Some of these unique “paintings” were made while sitting on the beautiful shores of local North Carolina beaches. Some of these paintings were created in and on top of local North Carolina mountain ranges. Some were even made at my local coffee shop up the street or at home while lounging on the sofa.
The Pure Luxury Quarantine Exhibition is my personal, creative exercise that examines the process that helped me ultimately gain a multitude of communication and technical skills. I have a new creative flexibility while also examining our current human condition.
Kathryn H. Wallace Artist in Community Service
JP is a Kathryn H. Wallace Artist in Community Service recipient. This endowment honors Kathryn H Wallace, a longtime community volunteer in the arts who maintained a deep belief that individuals, corporations, and society as a whole should support the work of individual artists. Her endowment funds the stipend of an artist who has, “through his or her art and/or other activities, made a significant contribution to the local community.”
Since he was a teenager, JP was “always fascinated with how art affects an individual, a cultural group and global society.” Whether he was painting t-shirts, guitars, or cars, it was always for “people in my community” and still continues to engage the public in his process by “actively listening to [individuals’ and groups’] needs and frustrations from their perspective without initial judgements and prejudice.”
Interested in making a purchase?
For the images marked “Display Only”: Prints are available 11x14in. for $25 unframed or 11x14in within a 16x20in. matted frame for $85.
If you are interested in purchasing any of the pieces below, please contact Katie Seiz, Executive Director of Durham Art Guild at gallerydirector@durhamartguild.org
Past Artists
The Foundation has had the pleasure of having the works of these fine local artists on display in our gallery in past exhibits. We encourage you to visit their websites, go see their art in person, and learn more about their artwork and journeys. Let them know we sent you!
- Dare (pronounced DahRay) Kumolu-Johnson - photographer using beautiful compositions to create stories
- Lakeshia Reid - paintings that celebrate the beauty, power and resilience of Black women
- Sharron Parker - handmade felt works by Triangle-based artist
- Annie Nashold - paintings with a focus on local connections through interviews, conversation, and community
- Leah Sobsey and Tim Telkamp - photography with a wet plate collodion process used to help engage the community and bring people together
- Sass Art - painter focused on exploring the complexities of femme identity through up-close portraits
- Moriah LeFebvre - mixed media focused on the changes in downtown Durham
- Veronique Moses - photographer, documentary work
- William Thomas - painter focused on representations of diverse people in his social circle
- Lisa Creed - painter focused on two distinct types of art: abstract and sky & sea
- Frank Myers - photographer, has done extensive work with Jazz musicians
- Bruce Mitchell - painter focused on realism, medium: oil painting
Why does the Foundation have an art gallery?
Because we believe that a strong commitment to the arts is an important part of our vision for the community.
As part of Our Focus on regional cultural arts, the Foundation's office space also serves as a rotating art gallery, for two main reasons: to support and foster local artists, and to encourage our community to connect and engage in meaningful conversation inspired by art. The Triangle Community Artists Gallery, housed within our office space at the Frontier in partnership with the Durham Art Guild (DAG), hosts artwork from local artists for periods of six months at a time. All artists in the gallery are chosen by a jury panel of fundholders and donors with an interest in the arts. The art on display, unless marked, is available for purchase. We are proud of this partnership with DAG, our jury of community leaders and arts-minded fundholders, and the artists we have the great pleasure of showcasing each cycle.
Due to COVID-19, we are offering a virtual art gallery only at this time.
Interested in learning how to turn your office into a curated art gallery?
Learn more about the DAG Art@Work program, and see how they can help you get started today!
Interested in getting your art displayed in our gallery?
Calls for art are for this exhibit are usually published in June. So keep an eye on Durham Art Guild and Triangle Community Foundation’s websites around that time!