ARTIST STATEMENT
As an artist I continue to execute drawings and paintings independent of formal study in art, having commenced figurative oil painting in 2006. It is the first of my hope to develop such skills and individual style so as to discover a fundamental yeomanship and technique for revealing the beauty and essence of the Eternal Feminine in all of its glorious forms.
Whether landscape or figurative nude, I look to capture the impression of an essential dramatic moment - a moment in time that holds in it the dichotomous yet balanced need for both action and stillness, while preserving the inevitable essence of mystery.
Finally, I fully subscribe to, in both my personal life and in all endeavors artistic, the precept as purported by Picasso: "a painting is the revelation of a journey."
So too, I suppose, is life as it truly is lived in the moment. Jeffrey Baumgartner, 2011
Whether landscape or figurative nude, I look to capture the impression of an essential dramatic moment - a moment in time that holds in it the dichotomous yet balanced need for both action and stillness, while preserving the inevitable essence of mystery.
Finally, I fully subscribe to, in both my personal life and in all endeavors artistic, the precept as purported by Picasso: "a painting is the revelation of a journey."
So too, I suppose, is life as it truly is lived in the moment. Jeffrey Baumgartner, 2011
ARTIST BIOGRAPHY
A professional actor for over twenty-five years, Jeffrey has appeared regionally with such theatres as Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, Steppenwolf Theatre, Court Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare, as well as Milwaukee Shakespeare and Renaissance Theatre Works, and as guest-artist at UI Summer Theatre at Champaign-Urbana, where he also displayed artworks at CinemaGallery, Urbana.
During the summer of 2007, he had the good fortune to travel to Greece with a production of Lysistrata and a whirlwind tour of the ancient amphitheatres that was, by his own admission, “a life-changing experience.” He then launched a Greece Series of paintings including “Greek Fishing Boat” (sold), “The Parthenon”, “Oracle at Delphi” and “Mycenae”.
Jeffrey was founder and producing artistic director of Borealis Theatre Company and Fox Valley Shakespeare Festival for fifteen seasons, as well as serving as director of theatre at both the high school and university levels. In addition, he has founded and is producing director of Cap-a-pe Productions in Chicago as well as JB ArtWorks studio gallery where he continues to exhibit regularly.
Having completed graduate studies in the professional actor-training program at the National Theatre Conservatory (MFA Acting), Jeffrey was a member of the Tony Award-winning Denver Center Theatre Company. Undergraduate studies include University of Wyoming, where he was a track scholarship recipient, having achieved All-American status as a pole vaulter in both high school and college. Jeffrey is the proud holder of a thirty-plus year high school pole vaulting record in Fort Wayne, Indiana - from whence he hails - a record happily shared as of 2009 (it was tied). Eat some sky!
In January, 2012, he will appear as John Barrymore for a single benefit performance in the one-man BARRYMORE'S GHOST in his hometown of Fort Wayne, while enjoying a five-week solo exhibition of more than fifty artworks in the lobby of the theatre. For more information, email: Email Me
During the summer of 2007, he had the good fortune to travel to Greece with a production of Lysistrata and a whirlwind tour of the ancient amphitheatres that was, by his own admission, “a life-changing experience.” He then launched a Greece Series of paintings including “Greek Fishing Boat” (sold), “The Parthenon”, “Oracle at Delphi” and “Mycenae”.
Jeffrey was founder and producing artistic director of Borealis Theatre Company and Fox Valley Shakespeare Festival for fifteen seasons, as well as serving as director of theatre at both the high school and university levels. In addition, he has founded and is producing director of Cap-a-pe Productions in Chicago as well as JB ArtWorks studio gallery where he continues to exhibit regularly.
Having completed graduate studies in the professional actor-training program at the National Theatre Conservatory (MFA Acting), Jeffrey was a member of the Tony Award-winning Denver Center Theatre Company. Undergraduate studies include University of Wyoming, where he was a track scholarship recipient, having achieved All-American status as a pole vaulter in both high school and college. Jeffrey is the proud holder of a thirty-plus year high school pole vaulting record in Fort Wayne, Indiana - from whence he hails - a record happily shared as of 2009 (it was tied). Eat some sky!
In January, 2012, he will appear as John Barrymore for a single benefit performance in the one-man BARRYMORE'S GHOST in his hometown of Fort Wayne, while enjoying a five-week solo exhibition of more than fifty artworks in the lobby of the theatre. For more information, email: Email Me
