Life & Work with Juel Grant of Colorado Springs

Today we’d like to introduce you to Juel Grant.

Juel, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I believe the essence of the Gift of a given talent, begins as an awareness of one’s innate abilities, and when nurtured, grows to become an intuitive guide enabling the artist to navigate the labyrinthian complexities of inspiration, idea, and possibility, while also fortifying one’s hope and belief in times of uncertainty and doubt.

The youngest of five children, I grew up on the farmland plains of Southwestern Kansas. Those early years instilled a sense of self-reliance, resourcefulness, and an appreciation for the beauty within the simple and unadorned.

I’ve always had the ability to draw, it’s just something I’ve always been able to do. Whenever I’d get to singing the blues, my Mom would set me up with pencil and paper, or some clay, and that’s all I needed. I was always drawing and making things.

An early experience as a child grew to become a fundamental aspect of my artistic practice. Drawing from a photo in a favorite book of football players in action on a muddy field – there was a moment in the drawing where I became lost in the abstraction created by the mud splattered uniforms. No longer concerned with drawing the identity of things, I became swept up in the freedom of seeing the shapes and values as qualities unto themselves – liberated from their identifying contexts.

That was the moment remembered as a first glimpse – an awakening to the true gifts of my ability, and the beginnings of my trust and reliance on a subconscious – intuitive sense that would serve as my guide in navigating my growth and development as an artist.

My experiences with art instruction tended to be contentious and less than inspiring. I decided early on not to pursue a formal education in art. I wanted to make my own discoveries and wasn’t much interested in someone else’s version of the truth. In finding my own way, I believed I was better able to discover my own unique voice and contribution.

The means and methods of my creative process were comprised of chasing one inspiration after another, with no regard whatsoever for working in any kind of a linier progression. I was thrilled by the change of direction: completing a work, then heading off in a different direction entirely. My experiences, though fragmented, were focused, broad, and diverse. The only real disciplined aspect of my artistic practice was – I never stopped working. I was learning and making what I felt to be my own discoveries.

I enjoyed the adventure of being in the thick of what I liked to refer to as, “the artist’s conundrum:” to remain open, permeable, and receptive, while at the same time, to be discerning, focused, and disciplined. Navigating the swings of that polarity was, and continues to be, a bit of a wild ride.

The artists I admired and turned to for inspiration were: Leonardo da Vinci, for his elegance of line, and the lyricism of his compositions; Vincent Van Gogh, for his self-sacrifice and unbridled passion; Rembrandt, for the brooding atmosphere of his canvas’s, and the humanity of his portraits; Picasso for his restless – inexhaustible appetite for invention; and Michelangelo, for his awe-inspiring intensity, grace, and herculean accomplishment.

There are those seemingly happenstance moments which turn out to be a life changing experience. That moment came for me when I walked into an Asian import store one winter’s evening, in search of a Christmas gift for my mother. There on a shelf amidst a multitude of offerings, sat a small glass case in which was enclosed – an egg, adorned with the imagery of a bird, perched on the branch of a blossoming cherry tree. I knew in that instant what my gift would be. I purchased the case and, once home, removed the egg and selected one from the carton of a dozen in the fridge. After emptying its contents, I drew a portrait of the matriarch of our family, my Great Grandmother Laura. Once complete, I placed the finished drawing in the case and presented it to my Mom on Christmas morning. That – was a beautiful moment and marked the beginning of my relationship with the egg – the elliptical sphere, as a shape and surface for drawing. For the longest time I was mystified by the attraction. I continued to experiment with other forms and media, but something about the egg kept calling me back.

Progressively woven into my restless, curiosity driven forays of exploration, was a desire for foundation, and a growing need for the grounding ballast of structure and purpose. Through drawing, to tap into the underlying source of the beauty residing within the structures of form. The human figure had been a constant – reoccurring element in my drawing, and my desire for a more in-depth study of anatomy led to my making the acquaintance of a professor at the anatomical Illustration department at C.S.U., and, being impressed by my disciplined, self-directed study, invited me to draw and sit in on his classes of anatomical dissection and forensics facial reconstruction.

The insights gained from this experience placed a sound footing beneath my step and gave me the confidence to progress toward what I believed would be a more poetic and lyrical focus of exploration and study: the work of the Italian and Northern Renaissance. I discovered there a kind of mentorship and sense of community. Entering into the compositions of works which have endured as the pinnacle of artistic achievement, awakened in me a kind of personal renaissance. By transcribing the thoughts of the masters of the Renaissance onto the gently arcing plains of the elliptical sphere, I gained a unique insight into something pure, fundamental, and timeless.

All the while as I was drawing from these works, the seeds were being sown as to how I would employ and carry forward the wealth of this experience. Great works should inspire a life beyond themselves – fulfilling the promise of their purpose when serving to illuminate and inspire the imaginations of those who experience them.

My turning to the work of the Renaissance, fortuitously coincided with my return to the egg – to the elliptical sphere. Throughout history, the egg has been seen as a universal symbol of life, creation and rebirth. The very definition of “Renaissance” is one of rebirth and renewal. The prevalent figurative nature of the compositions from which I drew proved ideally suited to the form. The resonant synthesis created from the coalescence of these two was a revelation to me, and I felt I had arrived at the discovery of a fundamental essence: a unity of imagery and form.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Passages of doubt and discouragement are all a part of the cycles and seasons of the creative process. To persevere, to continue to believe in my work, purpose, and contribution – in the face of seemingly endless rejection, has made me more resilient, deepened my resolve, and made me stronger. I’m thankful to be able to look back upon my personal history and see – come what may, a consistency of determination and effort. To quietly work – to simply sit myself down and address what’s there before me – is such a sublime bliss. I’m grateful for the generosity, encouragement, and support of family and friends.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Roundness is everywhere. We live on a sphere revolving, traveling through space in elliptical orbits with and around other revolving spheres. Nothing escapes the rhythm of the sphere – the cycles and seasons born from it.

My greatest sense of purpose and fulfillment is realized when engaged in the meditative conversation of drawing. My work brings together the two-dimensional medium of drawing onto the three-dimensional form of the elliptical sphere – creating a singular unified expression.

The egg – the elliptical sphere, is distillation of form to its essence – a timeless abiding calm in an increasingly complex and fractured world. I’d always felt a certain restlessness drawing within the confines of the flat rectangular plane. The egg – the elliptical sphere allows the imagery to evolve and flow around the form, unobstructed by edges and corners. The shape becomes an active participant in the evolution of the drawing – compressing and expanding the imagery as it progresses around the form. Of the many methods and media with which I’ve experimented, nothing awakens and stirs the senses as this one does – it has never ceased to challenge and inspire the best of my abilities.

I prefer the vellum like surface and smooth elliptical symmetry of duck eggs. Each measures a little more than two inches in height, at this scale the act of drawing becomes more intimate, is intensified: every touch, every line, takes on greater weight, wields a greater influence. As I draw, the surface resonates. Holding the egg in my left hand, I can feel the reverberation of my right hand drawing – gliding across the surface. The elliptical sphere has grown become as much a medium for being as it is for drawing. I love that a form so simple, common, and every day, would grow to become such an inexhaustible resource of inspiration and possibility.

My fascination with anatomy broadened to embrace the beauty inherent in the functionality of other natural structures. These interests, coupled with my desire to render objects liberated from their identifying contexts, became the genesis for the ongoing “Meditation Series” of drawings.

From an ever-evolving collection of objects, I draw faithfully what I see, yet I’m attracted to what becomes of an object when its identity becomes lost and intertwined with the imagery of other objects. At that moment of departure, I move beyond representation into something deeper – closer to the pulse, where the poetic essence of drawing begins.

The dried husks of insects, the skeletal remains of small mammals, all manner of vegetation, worn fragments of cloth, paper, and tin, – through these I engage in a dialogue with the fundamental elements and cadences of the visual. Rendering the qualities and characteristics which, in transcending the specific, become a portrayal of the universal.

“As I draw, the surface expands – grows more vast. I hold in my hand a globe whose landscape I roam in solitary bliss. I love that place, what it asks of me, what I become in its presence.”

Do you have recommendations for books, apps, blogs, etc?
The novels of: Tolstoy, Turgenev, Hugo, James Fennimore Cooper, and Willa Cather,..
Books of poetry by: Wendell Berry, Charles Bukowski, Billy Collins, Seamus Heaney, Robert Pinsky, Sylvia Plath, and Alexander Pope, …
Works relating to Zen and Buddhism: “The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying,” by Sogyal Rinpoche; “Bring Me the Rhinoceros,” by John Tarrant; “The Way of the White Clouds,” by Lama Anagarika Govinda, and “Fire Under the Snow,” by Palden Gyatso, …
The essays of Henry David Thoreau, Umberto Eco, and Camille Paglia, …
The music of: Coltrane, Miles, Mingus, Brubeck, Terrance Blanchard, Verdi, Sibelius, Chopin, Arvo Part, Sinatra, Nina Simone, George Jones, Patti Smith, Joni Mitchell, John Lee Hooker, and The Rolling Stones, …

I’m attracted to works without artifice or superfluous ornamentation, works that swing, have a groove, create space, summon a mood, inspire movement, have something meaningful to say or, that simply exist – unadorned by meaning, works that don’t feel to be catering to, or bound by a trend or fashion, that surprise, works which illuminate & inspire a life beyond itself, are unbound by the era of their making, works which speak – as if they’ve always existed.

Pricing:

• Portraits: $1,800; $3,200; $5,000. (The drawing on the front facing side only.)
• Meditation Series: $9,200; $15,000. (The drawing covers the entire surface.) Every work is professionally framed using archival materials and UV museum acrylic glazing.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.juelgrant.net ; e-mail: mail@juelgrant.net

Image Credits
Self in studio; Drawings on tinted Duck eggs (each aprox: 2 1/4″ in height.) 1. Walt Whitman;
2. Gertrude Stein & Alice B. Tolkas; 3. Leonardo da Vinci’s “Virgin With Child & Saint Anne”;
4. “Constrictor”; 5. “Ochre Umbra”; 6. “Terra Fauna”; 7. “Feather Boa”; 8. “Mandibular Bloom”;
9. “Diamond Hopper.”
Images 5 – 9, photographed by Rob Watt – Bar Spur Photography.