Arts

Seeing Jauneth Skinner's art exhibit at Jacksonville State University's Hammond Hall Gallery is like opening a surprise package and examining its contents, one by one. Both the graphic artist — who joined the art department as its chair Aug. 1 — and her works on paper are brand new to this area. One surprise of her show, "Imprints", is not only meeting Jauneth but meeting Italy; her impressions of that country's landscape give views of Florence, Corciano — a small town of 400 people — Venice and Verona. The exhibit is up through Sept. 26 and Skinner is happy to give viewers a tour of her work.

Three walls in the gallery display the prints she sketched while teaching in Italy. They supply a window into the country's lifestyle. Small town Italy and Jacksonville are really not that different, she said, in that "everybody knows everybody."

The professor describes her work as representational and easy to understand.

Prints here include bicycles against the wall of the Medici Chapel in Florence, Juliet's balcony in Verona, and St Michael's Temple in Perugia, Italy, which is her favorite church. In another print, children play kickball in a piazza in Florence, with the statue of Dante looming over them. Another memory was preserved in the image of her landlord, a wine maker in Corciano.

"Anyone who likes to read or travel should like this show," Skinner said, adding that her series of handpainted postcards are also on view.

A feature not usually found in art exhibits is a table stacked with 30 of Skinner's journals written in italic calligraphy and illustrated with photo collages and watercolor sketches. It is somewhat unusual for an artist to spend time writing, but Skinner carries on a venerable tradition. "Van Gogh journaled through his letters," Skinner said, "and that gives us a sense of his life."

Her journals are a compilation of seven years and the pages are filled with color.

"I think people wonder what makes us artists tick," she said with a smile. "My journals reflect my thoughts and dreams at the time. If one can capture the moment — that is the sight, the sounds, and the smells of the way one sees it — well, that's art."

But talking with her gives even more insight into the person behind the prints. Her experiences hold true to an old Italian folk proverb, she believes.

"Whenever one door closes, a wide castle gate swings open for you," she said. "I knew I would be an artist at age 12, when I was keeping sketch books and writing journals and nobody else in my class was." But later when she studied art in college, there were reverses.

"I was a first generation college student, and since money was not plentiful, I had to drop out after a semester. But my printmaker teacher and mentor at Indiana University urged me to apply for a scholarship." She did apply, and received the largest scholarship the department had ever offered.

Before the scholarship came, Skinner was a single parent living on a shoestring budget, but her art skills allowed her to open a freelance business designing T-shirts and paper cups. She later got a job as a courtroom artist. She overcame a similar financial reverse in graduate school at Bowling Green State University in Ohio, but won a 12-month fellowship and went on to earn a master's degree in fine arts.

It's been a long journey, and a life of daily creativity for Skinner. She is glad the path led to JSU. And since she thinks the campus is aesthetically "like a campus is supposed to look," it's a safe bet that it will end up in one of her future journals.

Skinner plans to "be really involved" with her students and to help them catch a vision of what they can be as artists, knowing that committing to an art career can be tough.

"My teachers taught me what it means to be a professional artist, and I will pass on these skills to the students," she explained.

But for the community, such a definition can be understood by meeting Jauneth Skinner and seeing her work.