Callen McJunkin Gallery

A native of rural West Virginia, artist Caroline Jennings brings her evocative, urbane sensibility back home with a new exhibition at Callen McJunkin Gallery, titled Meditations. The opening reception takes place Thursday Sept. 17th from 5-8 PM, with an artist's talk at 5pm. The exhibition continues through October 10.

Caroline Jennings is generally a figurative artist; her paintings frequently depict characters involved in everyday acts like walking the dog, waiting for the subway, often absorbed in thought. Jennings is coming to grips with her awareness of the isolation of humanity within the natural world, brought about by our progressive dependency upon technology and our endangerment of earth and sky; of how we both fear and long for our rightful unity with the natural world, which also means with each other. Her paintings illustrate life's journey, from innocence and optimism, through to experience, resignation and death. So it follows that her images possess a narrative quality.

In 2001, Jennings was honored with a solo installation at the former Sunrise Museum, one of three West Virginia women so honored. Her seminal exhibition Songs of Travel was based on the poem by Robert Lewis Stevenson, later set to music by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Jennings interpretation included nine large paintings on linen that described life's journey with a performance-based installation.

Returning to New York and traveling extensively, Jennings is most recently involved in an ongoing archaeological dig in remote southern Jordan, for which she acts as Arabic translator. The exhibition includes paintings on bark paper that document her travels as well as self-portraits relating to her time in Jordan. One current theme in Jennings work is annunciation as a secular concept. The word annunciation has both archetypal and quotidian overtones, and in Jennings work, refers to the act of "making ones presence known." A series of paintings resulting from time spent in northern Scotland in recent years includes some exploration of this theme within the larger context of humans within the natural environment.

For most of the past twenty years, Jennings has resided in Manhattan while retaining strong ties with Appalachia. Jennings has shown regularly in West Virginia while maintaining an extensive national and international exhibition record. Having exhibited in at least 15 states along the East Coast, Jennings paintings have been featured in London and Shanghai and she has been invited to exhibit in the 2009 Florence Biennale. Jennings next venue will be a solo exhibition at Smith College in MA in 2010.

Caroline Jennings work is included in the permanent collections of the WV Culture and History Museum, The Clay Center, the Huntington Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Institution, and the corporate collection of American Express Corporation.

Callen McJunkin Gallery is located in the Loft at 219 Hale St. above Stray Dogs Antiques. Free parking is available at the Huntington Banks garage with validation. Gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday 11- 5 and anytime by appointment. For further information, call 304.342.5647. www.mcjunkingallery.com