Jo Kennedy
Jo is a painter and poet living in Richmond, Virginia. She works in acrylic painting, mixed media, and collage. She is the former Director of the Visual Arts Center of Richmond and she holds a Master of Fine Arts from Virginia Commonwealth University and a Master of Humanities from the University of Richmond. Jo is currently retired and enjoys spending time making art, playing with her grandchildren and traveling wherever the spirit leads her.
Artist Statement
Growing up in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, I spent much of my childhood in the outdoors, exploring fields and orchards, climbing fences and trees, riding my horse along the river, and flying homemade kites in the open sky. The contours and rhythms of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the fertile valley and the winding Shenandoah River indelibly imprinted my childhood memory and imagination. Just as my poems are imbued with open spaces and a sense of place, my paintings are informed by my desire to create, define and claim the small physical space of the canvas in relationship to the larger canvas of the natural world. I find it ironic that I am centered and grounded by the hands-on immediacy of the creative process, but at the same time, that very process pushes me beyond the literal rendering of the work and allows me to evoke the lyrical, a bit of the narrative and sometimes the dreamlike. This competing sensibility fuels my process and, ultimately, infuses my work with energy and tension.
Artist Statement
Growing up in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, I spent much of my childhood in the outdoors, exploring fields and orchards, climbing fences and trees, riding my horse along the river, and flying homemade kites in the open sky. The contours and rhythms of the Blue Ridge Mountains, the fertile valley and the winding Shenandoah River indelibly imprinted my childhood memory and imagination. Just as my poems are imbued with open spaces and a sense of place, my paintings are informed by my desire to create, define and claim the small physical space of the canvas in relationship to the larger canvas of the natural world. I find it ironic that I am centered and grounded by the hands-on immediacy of the creative process, but at the same time, that very process pushes me beyond the literal rendering of the work and allows me to evoke the lyrical, a bit of the narrative and sometimes the dreamlike. This competing sensibility fuels my process and, ultimately, infuses my work with energy and tension.