Featured Artist of the Month: JEANNE GUGINO Jeanne Gugino has always expressed herself in many different media: clay, paint, pastel and craftwork including beading and fiber. For her, understanding structure is reinforced through drawing. Space and form are explored in ceramics, and painting is the culmination of all the elements. The spontaneity of watercolor is achieved especially through the constant practice of each. Teaching and working at Kaji Aso Studio allow all aspects of her expression to come to the forefront. The Gallery there, Gallery Nature & Temptation, is perfect for exhibiting the many different types of work. Her ceramic work is done in a small studio where she works with six people. For the most part they are working with an electric kiln, in midrange firing temperature and making their own glazes. During spring and summer they do raku firing. (A form of Japanese invention and American adaptation.) She has been teaching and working in this space for over twenty years, investigating utilitarian and sculptural forms. The Japanese aesthetic, both for thrown and handbuilt work, is predominate. She maintains a deep emotional and spiritual connection to nature. She feels the stages of the natural world are echoed in our brief lives and with a sense of urgent commitment intends to make the most of hers by creating something every day. Jeanne says: “Art is a spirit, a way of life. Art is truth, beauty, passion, just. Artists are supposed to have a vision.” For her, each work is a condensed moment, a poem without words. Jeanne does not shy away from this world however. She cannot ignore the brutal and ugly, nor the inhumanity. She duly notes technology and the current state of the environment, and their impact on our lives. However, she believes her art should portray more than exactly what we are now, but what human beings can become. We must recognize our place in this world. She appreciates beauty, whimsy, humor, and love. She holds Human Being as possibly noble and beautiful and full of hope.