The inevitability of art
In a continuing series the Mountain Express looks at artists and their
work
By ADAM TANOUS
Express Arts Editor
Jineen Griffith remembers clearly the time before art was the main theme
of her life. Her family had given her a box of pastels. They sat on her shelf because she
didn’t know what to do with them.
"I thought at the time, ‘I have to do something with
them, they’re expensive.’"
What Griffith did was to take a class from Ginna Lagergren. That was all
it took to launch her life in art.
Today, Griffith paints oil landscapes. She is represented by Kneeland
Gallery in Ketchum. Griffith also shows work at Chandler’s Restaurant here and the
Creekside Galleries in Park City, Utah, and Scotsdale, Ariz.
Much of Griffith’s sensibility has been shaped by the natural world.
She grew up in Flagstaff, Ariz., and has spent much of her adult life climbing mountains,
kayaking and skiing. Griffith said she spent much of the ‘70s and ‘80s
"making just enough money to pay for my next outdoor adventure." She moved to
the Wood River Valley in 1979.
"All of that backpacking and being out in nature has had a big effect
on how I paint today," Griffith said.
Even now, making money is not one of her primary goals. She said it is
wonderful when she gets paid for her work, but "it is not why I paint, and it never
will be." Griffith has done construction work in the past and has, with her husband,
managed some rental units. "Basically, we just don’t owe money," she said.
"What is wonderful about painting is you are pretty much in the
moment. If you can connect with what you are painting—that’s when it becomes
special. The challenge is finding the right balance between what I technically know about
painting and what I’m experiencing at the time."
She pointed out that if a piece of work is too technical or
"worked" then it is as if she is copying nature and the art "loses the
feeling of what the place meant to me." Griffith said she seeks an emotional response
rather than a technical one.
"The real art is catching the spirit, the essence of whatever you are
painting."
As to the subjects of her painting, Griffith said it has taken a while to
understand what exactly to paint.
"At first, you go after the classic, perfect picture. The more you
look, though, the more you know what to look for—the colors, the shadows, the way
mist comes off a lake—so many little things that can add up to what it is."
When she first started painting, she had difficulty figuring out what was
wrong with a given painting.
"I struggled with colors and form—something would be off, but I
couldn’t identify what." Now, she can usually tell when a painting of hers is
successful or not.
"The more I understand what I am painting and what I see in the
subject that I really want to capture, the more I can say, yeah, I got it, or not."
Griffith singled out several artists who have had an impression on her
work or by whom she has been inspired. They are primarily early-century, Western landscape
painters such as Edgar Paine, Carl Rungius and Paul Ziegler. She admires them because they
were "pioneers."
"They didn’t follow the crowd, and, of course, they loved
nature. I can identify with that."
While she studies other painters, goes to workshops, and talks with other
artists, Griffith feels that improving one’s skills is mostly a matter of
"getting out there and painting." Furthermore, she is content with the process
of painting.
"If a painting ends up in the garbage can, it’s okay. The goal
is not the end result, but what you do to get there. Part of the appeal of being an artist
is that you know you will never get there. It is an ongoing process, an always changing
one."
Griffith, when pressed on her approach to art, deferred to a statement
from the artist Robert Henry: "The object is not to make art, but to be in the
wonderful state which makes art inevitable."
