Jacqui Lewnes - Artist & Printmaker

ARTIST REVIEW by Wesley Pulkka- ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL
Sunday, April 06, 2008

A Fine Showing in Nob Hill by Wesley Pulkka - For the Journal

Eye-catching animal monotypes by Jacqui Lewnes, fill the New Grounds Print Workshop Gallery at the Nob Hill Art Complex.
Lewnes is a mid-career artist who graduated from the Maryland Art Institute 12 years ago. She is an accomplished printmaker who does animal portraits for her friends. Though whimsical, her work also is abstractly well designed and graphically pure.

In “Willie Dreamsicle” Lewnes assigns a dual role to her subject as an ice cream bar and cat. The sweeping curve of the sleeping cat’s spine would look good as a piece of jewelry or an advertising logo graphic.

Lewnes’ “Bird I” features a diagonal composition that would please Ed Ruscha who painted “American Standard” more than 30 years ago.
Ruscha’s depiction of a gasoline station diagonally cut the painting in half. He explained in a lecture that he saw the diagonal as a characteristic device used almost solely by American artists.

This is a nice 20-piece solo show filled with bold color and design.