ST. JOHNS MAGAZINE
  • Home
    • Home & Style blog
    • Beauty, Fashion & Home
    • Real Estate >
      • Real Estate St. Johns BLOG
      • Neighborhoods of Northern St. Johns
      • New Construction
      • Featured Communities >
        • Focus on Trailmark
        • Focus on Shearwater
        • Focus on Nocatee
        • Age Restricted Communities
    • Travel
    • Back to school
    • Books We Love
  • Lifestyle
    • People
    • Wellness >
      • BLOG Health & Wellness Providers BLOG
    • Calendar Blog
    • Trivia Nights
    • Parks in St. Johns
    • Golf Courses
    • Autism Resources >
      • SJM Autism Blog
    • Summer Camp
    • Beaches
    • Farmer's Markets
  • Dining
    • Restaurant Guide
    • My Wandering Fork
    • Local Chefs Series
  • Digital
  • About
    • Schedule a phone call
    • Demographics & Distribution
    • Past Issues
    • Testimonials
    • Graphic Design Services
  • Best of SJ
  • FAQ

 SCHOOL

contact us

Even You will be Inspired by Jenna Alexander's Pairing Of Art and Heart!

9/2/2014

0 Comments

 
Picture
by Lisa Farese

A series of tiny dots made with a paint brush tip smaller than a pinky finger in vibrant greens, blues, yellows and browns captures the eye. After a few steps back to catch a full glimpse of the 4 foot by 4 foot canvas, a child’s face emerges. In fact, nearly the entire back wall of this St. Augustine gallery is filled with these incredible faces painted in oil paints with an impressionistic flair. And just as these young faces were woven together with tiny dots of color, a painstaking labor of love that takes 40 to 60 hours each canvas, beautiful threads woven into African fabric adorn the edges of each painting, each one with unique patterns and colors brought home from Tanzania.
One can’t help but wonder who these children are. What are their names? What is their story? Well, they are Frank, John, Glory, Aneth, Mary, Rebecca, Irene, Maurin, Beatrice and Isaka to name a few, and they are among a class of 24 orphaned children in Tanzania. Here artist and photographer Jenna Alexander spent a year with the Rafiki Foundation teaching preschool and first-grade art and physical education to these 24 orphaned children, and as she left these children with newly imparted knowledge, she came home with inspiration. “They taught me more than I taught them,” Alexander said. From this knowledge, the Even Me project was born. 
With a campaign on Kickstarter.com, Alexander raised the funds needed for the materials to create this series of paintings, but they didn’t start as paintings. While in Tanzania, Alexander was also able to devote a great deal of her time to photography. “There were so many beautiful faces and people there,” she said. “You can’t go out at night there, so I learned to edit photographs.” 
These photographs of her students would later inspire her project. “It works for me to do different mediums and have different creative outlets,” Alexander said. “I love the social aspect of photography, but I also love the solitude of art, so I paired the two.”
This pairing of art and photography can been seen throughout her gallery. With photography including wedding, maternity and family portraits, to the Even Me paintings, to cartoon characters of couples or bridesmaids, to her naptime botanicals series and even a distillery label, her talents appear limitless.
So, as Alexander continues work on the Even Me project and prepares to show 12 of these pieces at the Ponte Vedra Cultural Center in April 2015, she hopes to eventually sell the these pieces and donate the proceeds back to the children, some of whom have even seen their completed paintings through Skype, for their college or vocational funds. 
And you may want to stop by the gallery to see her work in person, for due to the unique perspective of the paintings, passersby still have much to discover. 
“I don’t want to tell the whole story because we don’t know the whole story,” Alexander says when asked about this unique perspective. Neither do we. So, catch a glimpse for yourself at the Jenna Alexander Gallery located at 77 San Marco Avenue, Unit 3, or visit www.jenna-alexander.com. 


0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    St. Johns Magazine

    St. Johns Magazine blog features articles  written by & about the people, places and events of St. Johns and the surrounding communities.

    Archives

    July 2022
    August 2020
    August 2018
    July 2018
    July 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    March 2014

    Categories

    All
    2014 Summer Fun Guide
    2015 Summer Fun
    50 Things We Love About St. Johns
    Alligator Farm Zip Line
    Ancient City Mosaic
    BBack To School With Action News Jax 2022
    Community College: The Best Of Both Worlds
    Destination Tulum
    Dog Parks Of St. Johns County
    Durbin Crossing
    Father's Day
    Marine Science Camp SJCPS
    Markland
    Men Of St. Johns
    Mexico
    Movie Previews Summer 2014
    Music Therapy
    New Home Communities St. Johns
    New Schools In St. Johns
    Ponte Vedra Cultural Center
    Real Estate In St. Johns Florida
    Schools In Northern St. Johns
    Sea Turtle Hospital At Whitney Laboratory
    St. Augustine Distillery
    St. Johns Public Schools Music
    St. Johns Real Estate
    St. Johns Riverkeeper
    Summer Beach Reading 2014
    Swamp Radio
    Teachers Of St. Johns
    The Art Of Jenna Alexander
    The Benefits Of Martial Arts
    The Globalist Generation
    Tips For A Successful School Year
    Ultimate Day Trips Close To Home!

    RSS Feed

Picture

©2012-2022 All Rights Reserved 
St. Johns Magazine LLC

About 


 
Welcome to St. Johns Magazine, the premier lifestyle media company in St. Johns Florida and the heart of Northeast Florida.

St. Johns Magazine is a fun and friendly resource guide connecting the growing communities of northern St. Johns. We focus on the positive aspects of life with entertaining features and articles promoting local businesses, people, places and events!




Contact 

Contact Us
About Us
Demographics
debbie@stjohnsmag.com

904-687-8538
St. Johns Magazine publishes twelve times a year. stjohnsmag.com launched in 2012. Like our page on Facebook, and follow us on Instagram. The magazine is printed in Jacksonville, Florida, USA and distributed free of charge to SELECT homes in northern St. Johns.


Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
    • Home & Style blog
    • Beauty, Fashion & Home
    • Real Estate >
      • Real Estate St. Johns BLOG
      • Neighborhoods of Northern St. Johns
      • New Construction
      • Featured Communities >
        • Focus on Trailmark
        • Focus on Shearwater
        • Focus on Nocatee
        • Age Restricted Communities
    • Travel
    • Back to school
    • Books We Love
  • Lifestyle
    • People
    • Wellness >
      • BLOG Health & Wellness Providers BLOG
    • Calendar Blog
    • Trivia Nights
    • Parks in St. Johns
    • Golf Courses
    • Autism Resources >
      • SJM Autism Blog
    • Summer Camp
    • Beaches
    • Farmer's Markets
  • Dining
    • Restaurant Guide
    • My Wandering Fork
    • Local Chefs Series
  • Digital
  • About
    • Schedule a phone call
    • Demographics & Distribution
    • Past Issues
    • Testimonials
    • Graphic Design Services
  • Best of SJ
  • FAQ