About The Artist
Jill Goldman-Callahan is a contemporary abstract painter interested in mystery and process. She earned a BA in Fine Art and Anthropology from Bennington College and a Masters in Art Therapy from Lesley University. She has worked as an art therapist, art educator and studio artist. Jill’s paintings have been shown in multiple juried & solo shows. People who have them in their homes say they lend meaning to their lives. You can find Jill experimenting in her studio at the Arts Umbrella In Concord Ma.
My aim is not just to depict, but to bestow. I aspire to the voice of an echo, the memory of stone, the secrets of water. My paintings infuse the room with peaceful presence. Thomas Moore, the best selling author of Care Of The Soul, describes her work as, “Not a painting of, but a peek into.”
My art references internal rather than external reality. Intentionally ambiguous, my work is reminiscent of landscape, seeds or vessels. My paintings are process, rather than product oriented. This means, when I begin, I don’t know what will happen. Instead of a plan, I follow a series of impulses spurred on by alternating dissatisfaction and enchantment. I persevere until it feels right.
I build surfaces responsively, intuitively evolving each piece with coalescing layers that infuse an anodyne presence. My surfaces, spread like icing, or dripped across a tilted plane live at the intersection of intent and accident. I rarely use a brush, instead choosing squeegees to glide, push and pull paint. I once worked as a pastry chief and love rich paint the consistency of buttercream.
I make many of my own pigments, walnut ink is birthed when boiled overnight, hammered desert stones relinquish residue, their pink powder permeating liquid poured across a plane. Marinated crushed coffee beans exude textured browns and ash from my home fire generates graceful grays. The layered patina reads as atmospheric, seed like or geologic, a salient whisper to ourselves.
People often exhale when they enter my studio. Mood is as important to me as narrative. My calming compositions and peaceful palette offer a meditative invitation. I call this etheric abstraction to match my goal: generation of etheric emotion. Each painting is an authentic new world, a mirror or portal, a constructed recording of moments of pure responsiveness. Ultimately, I just make paintings that I want to see.
Ultimately, I just make paintings that I want to see.
I am happy to answer any questions about process, purchases, custom work or arrange a private studio visit. If a painting you like is sold, I can create a similar resonance. Gallery inquires welcome.
windbuddha@verizon.net
(203) 209-0115
The Umbrella Arts Center
Studio 303
Concord, MA
Exhibitions:
West Acton VillageWorks Gallery Jan-April 2025
Bedford Library Gallery Bedford Ma Sept-November 2024
Towle Hill Gallery Corinth Vermont June 2024
The Harvey Wheeler Center Solo Show June Concord Ma 2024
The Arts Umbrella “Tapped In” Concord MA 2024
The Concord Art Association Members Juried Two 2024
The Concord Art Association Members Juried One 2024
LoveDay Gallery Solo show West Concord MA 2024 2024
The Concord Art Association Roddy Exhibit Juried Show 2024
Kerem Shalom Synagogue Invitational Show Concord Ma 2023
“Fleeing Moments” The Three Stones Gallery, Concord Ma 2023
Five Sparks Gallery Harvard MA Juried Show Destination Nature 2023
The Three Stones Gallery Concord MA Oct 2023
The Concord Art Association Members Juried Two 2022
Darby Scott Solo Show Andover Ma December 2022
Trinity Church Concord MA Solo Show October-December 2022
The Jaffery Civic Center Go Figure juried show 2022
The Concord Art Association Roddy Exhibit Juried Show 2022
Gallery W Winds of Change juried show Wellesley Ma 2022
Gallery Twist Flights of Fancy juried show lexington Ma 2022
Six Bridges Gallery Juried Show Boundaries 2022
The Arts Umbrella, Open Studio gallery show 2021-2024
LexArt, Juried show, Coast Line, Lexington MA 2022
LexArt Juried show, Natural Visions, Lexington MA 2022
Shared Habitat Earth Conant Gallery Groton Ma 2022
Paula Estey Galleryfor Art and Activitism Newburyport MA 2022
Gallery Twist “Lyrical” Lexington Ma 2023
Patina Green Solo Show Concord MA 2022
Spring Stone Gallery West Concord MA summer show 2021
The Arts Umbrella Gallery Four New Umbrella Artists 2021
Belmont Gallery of Art Juried Show: Art Heals three paintings 2021
Concord Library “Reverie Terrain” Solo Show 2021
Gallery Twist “Cool Calm & Collected” Lexington MA 2021
Three Stones Gallery West Concord MA Two Person Show 2021
Concord Art Association MJ2 2021
Six Bridges Gallery Maynard MA Habitat Juried Show 2021
New Art Center Women in AbstractionJuried Show 2020
Boston METCO Program BLM Commission 2020
Annual Wellesley Art Educator Show 2010-2020
Concord Art Association: Roddy 2017
Three Stones Gallery Juried show Concord MA 2017
Concord Art Association Juried The Art of Hope & Spirit” 2013
Mustataquid Earth Art show Concord Ma 2004/2005/2021/2022
Lincoln Medical Associates, Solo Show Lincoln Ma 2003
Concord Library: "9/11, Artists Respond and React” Curation 2001
Acton Library Solo Show: "Looking Up, Looking Down, Looking In" 2001
Masao’s Kitchen Waltham MA Solo Show "Four Buddhas" 2000
Concord Art Association: Distinguished Artists of Concord 2000
Decordova Museum: Group Show "Reflected Inner Worlds" 2000
Decordova Museum: Student Group Show 2000
Kerem Shalom Synagogue: Solo Show Concord, MA, Judaic Mysteries 1999
Concord Art Association: Juried Member Shows 1997-2001
Atrium School: Mural, Watertown, MA 1998
Zullo Gallery: group show, Medfield, MA 1998
Concord Public Library: Concord Ma "Shtetl Days" One Woman Show 1998
Painted Prayers Gallery: Group Show, Wilton NH 1996
Institute for the Study of the Imagination: Solo Show "Dream Art" 1995
Bennington College: Alumni Show 1994
Cargo Unlimited Gallery: Marblehead, MA 1990