Bio

Born and raised in New York City, Jeannie Motherwell inherited a love of painting from her father, Robert Motherwell, and stepmother, Helen Frankenthaler, two pillars of mid-century abstraction. She studied painting at Bard College and the Art Students League in New York. Continuing with her art after college, she became active in arts education at the Bruce Museum in Greenwich, CT. Later, relocating to Cambridge, MA, she worked at Boston University for the graduate program in Arts Administration 2002 – 2015. She served on the Cambridge Arts Council Public Art Commission from 2004 – 2007 and is currently on the Provincetown Arts Magazine Board of Directors, an Honorary Art Advisor Member for Rochester Museum of Fine Arts (NH), and is on the Advisory Board for Joy Street Artists Open Studios in Somerville, MA. Her work has been featured in public and private collections throughout the US and abroad.

Jeannie’s studio is in Somerville, MA. She is represented by the M Fine Arts Galerie in Boston, MA and Palm Beach, FL and by The Schoolhouse Gallery in Provincetown, MA.

Artist Statement

Having vacationed on Cape Cod Bay since childhood, my work is influenced by the constantly changing landscape that surrounds me, and — when not within hearing distance of the waves lapping or crashing onshore — by the images of celestial phenomena as seen from the Hubble telescope in outer space. I am amazed by the images and mysteries of the oceans and skies in changing weather, Hubble-type images of the universe, and my own physicality during the painting process. It has inspired my paintings, which have an intimacy to the space in them but also an immensity.

The pouring process I use and the mere physicality of it helps me explore spatial complexities that yield marvelous surprises, taking me in directions I cannot anticipate. There are things that happen in my paintings that I cannot explain as I contemplate layer upon layer with intermittent editing and erasing. I may try to control the paintings while working, but I am really searching for answers to make the unexpected work for me. It is about exploring the unknown and then refining it to reflect a visceral memory or experience. I like to think of my paintings as ‘events’ or ‘occurrences’ — that is, actions that emerge in the here and now.

The Painting Process: Pouring, pushing and layering — creating Pyrifera (a 2½ minute video)

Quotes

As I wrote about Motherwell, whose father was the famous Robert and whose stepmom was Helen Frankenthaler: Their influences are apparent, but there are also values embraced by much of that ground-breaking group in the 1950s, still ongoing among painters today: spontaneity, intense color, and a basic trust in the possibilities of chance. If anything, Motherwell has surpassed her elders in cultivating a lush and opulent vision that builds on the lyrical impulses of a previous generation. Call it expressionism without angst.
Ann Landi, Founder & Editor Vasari21.com

Jeannie Motherwell’s work pits generation against collapse, and are as capricious as light flashing on water. They pin us with similar intensity — a moment of coming to be that will just as soon vanish.
Cate McQuaid, Boston Globe

As the daughter of two artistic icons, how do you find your own path and message in the art world? Jeannie Motherwell has managed to do both.
Dirk Vanduffel, Artdependence Magazine, Belgium, 2017

The artwork is ‘an event, an occurrence’; that is, an action that emerges in the here and now. At issue is the nature of creation; the ‘subject-matter’ of Motherwell’s work is an ‘artistic creation’ itself, a symbol of the images and mysteries of creation.
Gerardo Gil, Fine Art Critic, Barcelona, Spain

Abstract acrylic painter Jeannie Motherwell refuses to grow cold in the artistic shadow of her father and stepmother, Robert Motherwell and Helen Frankenthaler. As a stable ecosystem quells its wrestling constituents, Motherwell’s refined intuition hushes the spontaneous boundaries of dilating paint on clay board panel and canvas. Over a soberly spoken interview, the New York artist admits in her work the faint pursuit of a faded horizon: the shifting waters from the view of an old home, replaced, in time, by a windowless studio. The methodology of Motherwell’s art – to draw a structure from an uncertainty – eerily echoes a ritual from her upbringing: discerning, with the right words, to the joy of her guardians, the spiritual essences behind their cascades of paint.
Brainard Carey, Praxis Center for Aesthetic Studies

Jeannie’s paintings embody a bold re-visioning of abstract painting. The paintings seem to live in a realm between motion and stillness, micro and macro seeing at the same time. This simultaneousness makes for a vigorous dynamic of what exists as imagination and what is perceived. The work is exciting, the color palette luscious, the overall impact is breathtaking. Alchemy!
Rose Austin, Photographer, Educator, and former director of the Massachusetts Culture Council

Jeannie Motherwell’s new paintings span the distance between far flung galaxies and the crust of the earth. Much like Gaston Bachelard’s reflections on intimacy and immensity, they speak of memories and dreams, evoking—improbably, delightfully—both the solidity of landscape and transparency of smoke.
Necee Regis, Writer/photographer

The sensual stain of Jeannie Motherwell’s paintings evoke the change of seasons – fall color, a balance of warmth with the impending chill, slicked over a ground of winter white. Like the first frost over newly fallen leaves.
Erin Becker, Norma Jean Calderwood Director, Cambridge Art Association

Jeannie has been inspired by images she first saw from the Hubble Space Telescope. I was drawn in by Jeannie’s use of color and flow in her paintings and by the way I felt like I was looking at something familiar and completely unknown all at the same time. I also love that Jeannie’s inspiration comes not only from space, but also from our oceans (or what a lot of us like to call inner space) and where there is still so much to explore.
Nicole Stott, Artist, Former USA Astronaut, International Association Of Astronomical Artists

CV

SELECTED SOLO and TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS | SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS | SELECTED PUBLICATIONS | RECOGNITIONS

EDUCATION

1976 The Art Students League of New York, Painting
1974 Bard College, BA, Painting

SELECTED SOLO and TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS

2020 The Schoolhouse Gallery
MULTIPLES
Provincetown, MA
2020 The Schoolhouse Gallery
PENTIMENTO
Provincetown, MA
2019 M Fine Arts Galerie
IMPACT
Boston, MA
2018 M Fine Arts Galerie
Recent Paintings
Palm Beach, FL
Rochester Museum of Fine Arts
Color Stories: Selected Works by Jeannie Motherwell
Rochester, NH
2017 Rafius Fane Gallery
POUR. PUSH. LAYER.
Boston, MA
2013 – Lynne Scalo Design
New Paintings
Westport, CT
2002 – 2011 Lyman-Eyer Gallery Provincetown, MA
2007, 2010 Boston University, Metropolitan Gallery
Paintings and collages
Boston, MA
2000 – 2001 Boathouse Gallery Provincetown, MA
1999 Cambridge Public Library Cambridge, MA
1978 – 1981 Provincetown Group Gallery Provincetown, MA
1974 Bard College Annandale-on-Hudson, NY

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2020 New Bedford Art Museum
Excavation: Layers of Meaning
New Bedford, MA
2019 Ethan Cohen New York
DOUBLE X
New York, NY
Ethan Cohen Kube
Orphans of Painting
Beacon, NY
The Bridgehampton Museum
Market Art + Design
Bridgehampton, NY
M Fine Arts Galerie
Winter Collective
Palm Beach, FL
M Fine Arts Galerie
Winter Collective
Boston, MA
2018 Cambridge Art Association
Viewpoints
Charlestown, MA
M Fine Arts Galerie
Summer Group Show
Boston, MA
AMP Gallery
Limitless
Provincetown, MA
2017 Liquid Art House Boston, MA
Galatea Fine Art
The NEW ENGLAND COLLECTIVE VIII
Boston, MA
2016 Miami Beach Convention Center
Art Basel Art Weeks 2016
Miami Beach, FL
AMP Gallery
Sanctioned Spaces
Provincetown, MA
Cambridge Art Association, 15th National Prize Show
Recital
Cambridge, MA
Atlantic Works Gallery
Boston Biennial 3
Boston, MA
 2015 – Joy Street Artists
Open Studios
Somerville, MA
2015 Brickbottom Gallery
DREAM WEAVERS
Somerville, MA
ArcWorks Gallery
Artsy Autumn
Peabody, MA
Via Garibaldi 1791
ArtVenice Biennale 3
Venice, Italy
2014 Atlantic Works Gallery
Boston Biennial 3
Boston, MA
 2014, 2015 Somerville Museum
Artists’ Choice
Somerville, MA
2013 Brickbottom Gallery
Chain Reaction
Somerville, MA
2012 Antiques & Art Avant-Garde Greenwich
A fundraiser for the Bruce Museum and Greenwich Historical Society
Greenwich, CT
 2004 – 2012 Lyman-Eyer Gallery Provincetown, MA
Acme Fine Art
Provincetown Views
Boston, MA
2010 Fay Chandler Gallery
10th Annual Small Works
Cambridge, MA
Cambridge Arts Council Gallery
Cambridge Open Studios Salon Preview Exhibition
Cambridge, MA
2009 Provincetown Art Association and Museum (PAAM)
Generations Exhibition
Provincetown, MA
 2001 – 2009 Maud Morgan Visual Arts Center, Sacramento St. Gallery
Small Works
Cambridge, MA
 2005 Newton Free Library
Rock, Paper, Scissors
Newton, MA
2003 Monroe Center for the Arts
Landscapes
Lexington, MA
Art of July
10th Annual
Boston, MA
Boston State House Exhibition
Invitational: Travel
Boston, MA
Color Stories, Inc.
Competitive Exhibition
Boston, MA
2002, 2003 Stebbins Gallery Cambridge, MA
2002 New England School of Art & Design at Suffolk University
Special 9/11 Exhibition and Event
Boston, MA
TransCultural Coaster Project Destination: The World
featuring 100 Artists Plus (Curated by Charles Giuliani)
Boston, MA
Lynn Arts
Possibilities, 2nd Annual Mixed Media
Lynn, MA
New England School of Art
Digital City: New Squirts for Now People
Boston, MA
1999 – 2001 Provincetown Art Association & Museum (PAAM) Provincetown, MA
2000 Gallery 57
Cambridge Arts Council
Cambridge, MA
1998 – 1999 DNA Gallery Provincetown, MA

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

2019 JEANNIE MOTHERWELL, essay by Ann Landi, Contributing Editor ARTnews, founder of Vasari21.com, M Fine Arts Galerie, (catalog for solo exhibition, IMPACT)
Jeannie Motherwell in South Florida, by Raymond Elman, Inspicio, January 2019
2018 The Motherhood Report, by Ann Landi, Vasari21.com, December 3, 2018
Jeannie Motherwell’s cosmic vistas, by Susan Rand Brown, Provincetown Banner, July 26, 2018
Jeannie Motherwell, Under the Radar, by Ann Landi Vasari21.com, July 22, 2018
Jeannie Motherwell — Chance favors the ready mind, by Christopher Busa, Provincetown Arts Magazine, 2018 (Acrobat pdf file)
Limitless Motherwell: Amp’d Up Vibe In Provincetown, by Suzanne Volmer, Artscope, July/August 2018
THE GIFT IN OUR VOICES — Interview with Jeannie Motherwell, interviewer: Kit Kennedy, San Francisco Peace and Hope
Space for Art — Making a cosmic impression, by Nicole Stott, ROOM – The Space Journal, Summer 2018 (Acrobat pdf file)
Art & Life with Jeannie MotherwellBostonVoyager, April 10, 2018
2017 Jeannie Motherwell: Her Art Stands by Itself, by Dirk Vanduffel, Artdependence Magazine, Belgium, October, 2017
Jeannie Motherwell’s paintings revel in abstraction, by Cate McQuaid, Boston Globe, October 13, 2017
Jeannie Motherwell: Pour. Push. Layer. at Rafius Fane Gallery, by James Foritano, Artscope, September/October, 2017
SOWA FALL PREVIEW: CHANGES IN THE AIR, by Suzanne Volmer, Artscope, September/October, 2017
POUR. PUSH. LAYER., by Susan Rand Brown, Art New England, Vol. 38, Issue 5, September – October, 2017
Jeannie Motherwell at her SoWa Boston Exhibit in the Rafius Fane Gallery, video interview by Artscope Magazine’s Suzanne Volmer, September, 2017
2016 Boston Based Artist Jeannie Motherwell Draws Structures From Uncertainty THE SILO, November 28, 2016
Jeannie Motherwell Interview from Yale University Radio WYBCX, November 16, 2016
Jeannie Motherwell’s Provincetown work is haunted by the Patricia Marie Provincetown Banner, Vol. 22, Number 26, October 13, 2016
Dancing with a creative partner gently leading me into moves I have not yet experienced. Jeannie Motherwell, interviewer: Kit Kennedy, San Francisco Peace and Hope, Issue 5
Sanctioned Spaces, by Jeannie Motherwell, Vasari21.com, April 5, 2016
2015 Tide No. 2, Home page of San Francisco Peace and Hope, excerpt, downloaded April 24, 2015 (Acrobat pdf file)
2014 Ebbing, Masthead/cover of Art Connection, Fall/Winter, 2014
San Francisco Peace and Hope The Book, wrap around book jacket featuring Tide 2
One Thing and One Thing Only – To Paint, interviewer: Kit Kennedy, San Francisco Peace and Hope, Issue 4
Night Rhythms, sfpeaceandhope.com, Issue 4, Chapter 1
Elementary and Circle of Life, Avenue, April, 2014, page 94
2013 Elementary and Circle of Life, Quintessence, November 18, 2013
Dance Hamptons Cottages and Gardens, July 15, 2013
Never Give Up the Joy and Awe of Exploration, An interview with painter Jeannie Motherwell, interviewer: Kit Kennedy, San Francisco Peace and Hope, Issue 3
River Run, San Francisco Peace and HopeIssue 2, Chapter2
 2012 Patricia Marie: Abyss, San Francisco Peace and HopeSpring / Fall issues, 2012
Robert Motherwell, Helen Frankenthaler and Cape Cod Influence the Works of Jeannie Motherwell, by Jeannie Motherwell, Journal of the Print World, Vol. 35, Number 1, January, 2012 (Acrobat pdf file)
2011 Dune with Dreams, Good Samaritan Medical Center, Emergency Department, audio guide  Play audio
Jeannie Motherwell: New Work, by Jim Foritano, Artscope Magazine, July/August, 2011 (Acrobat pdf file)
Patricia Marie: Abyss  San Francisco Peace and Hope, Issue 1, Chapter 1  and Elegy 911: An American Tragedy Chapter 5
Jeannie Motherwell — Paintings and Collages: 2004-2010, Boston University Metropolitan College, Winter, 2011 (Acrobat pdf file)
2009 The Provincetown Roots of Jeannie Motherwell, Provincetown Magazine, Vol. 32, Issue 15, July 23, 2009
2008 Capsule Previews, artscope, New England’s Culture Magazine, November/December, 2008
Studio Show Recollections/Robert Motherwell, by Jeannie Motherwell, Provincetown Arts Magazine, Vol. 23, annual issue, 2008/2009
Robert and Jeannie Motherwell, Provincetown Art Guide
2007 Year In Review 2007, by Sue Harrison, Provincetown Banner, Vol. 13, Number 34, December 27, 2007
Gallery Scene, Provincetown Magazine, Vol. 30, Issue 18, August 9, 2007
Administrator by Day, Artist by Night, by Rebecca McNamara, BU Today, August 8, 2007
Jeannie Motherwell Unlocks the Ghost of the Patricia Marie, by Susan Rand Brown, Provincetown Banner
Patricia Marie, Provincetown Magazine, Vol. 30, Issue 17
Artists: Art Talk, Provincetown Arts Magazine, Vol. 19, annual issue, 2007-2008
On display at the MET Gallery, Boston University Metropolitan College, commencement 2007
2006 Jeannie Motherwell & Friends @ Lyman-Eyer, Provincetown Magazine, Vol. 29, Issue 21, August 31, 2006
Making a Bid, Boston Globe ‘Sidekick,’
2005 Sea Change, American Airlines ‘American Way,’ December 1, 2005
Around P’town, Provincetown Banner and Advocate, July 30, 2005
Open Studios: Art in Context, by Kristin Lambert, artsMEDIA Magazine, May/June, 2005
Artists: Art Talk, Provincetown Arts Magazine, Vol. 18, annual issue, 2004/2005
Faculty artwork, Boston University Metropolitan College, Winter 2005
Weld, Click, Rip: Three North Cambridge Artists join forces for an exhibit, by Chris Helms,
Cambridge Chronicle
2004 The Seen and the Unseen, Jeannie Motherwell and Deborah Barlow Show New Work, by Brenner Thomas, Editor,Provincetown Magazine, Vol. 27, Issue 12, June 24-30, 2004 (Acrobat pdf file)
On Display: Jeannie Motherwell Works on Paper, Life In Provincetown, Vol. 3, Issue 9, June 24, 2004
Artists: Art Talk, Provincetown Arts Magazine, Vol. 18, annual issue, 2003/2004
2002 Finding the Light: Artist’s Statements, by Stuard Derrick, Provincetown Magazine, Vol. 25, Issue 25, September 19-25, 2002
A Sense of Place: An Anthology of Cape Women Writers by Gillian Drake, published by Shank Painter Publishing
The Gallery Scene, Cape Arts Review
Art Talk, Provincetown Arts Magazine
Portrait of an Artist: Jeannie Motherwell, by Stuard Derrick, Provincetown Magazine, Vol. 25, Issue 18, August 1-7, 2002
Open Studios Offers Artists, Public A Chance To Interact, Cambridge Chronicle
Peek Behind the Painting, by David Ortiz, Cambridge Tab, April 26, 2002
2001 On Equal Ground: Photographs from an Artist’s Community by Norma Holt, Provincetown Art Association & Museum (PAAM)
2000 artsMEDIA Magazine, Summer Issue
Jeannie Motherwell: Painting Again, by Dan Cooper, P’town Women Magazine
1999 Beyond the Windows: A Conversation with Jeannie Motherwell, by Peter Alson, Provincetown Arts Magazine
Works in Progress, The Cambridge Tab
1980 Face of the Artist: Photographs by Norma Holt through Provincetown Art Association & Museum (PAAM) Exhibition, July 1980

SELECTED RECOGNITIONS

2019 Juror, The Biennial Project Biennial, The 2019 Venice Biennale
2018 Juror, New Hampshire Institute of Art Alumni, Rochester Museum of Fine Arts
RMFA Gallery to be dedicated to Bernier Sept. 8
2016 Limitless, Vasari21.com Pic of the Day on Facebook and Instagram
15th National Prize Show Cambridge Art Association, Recital, Acrylic on canvas on board (Juror: Paul C. Ha, Director, MIT List Visual Arts Center)
Visual Arts Artist Fellowship
Somerville Arts Council
2015 1st Prize, Artsy Autumn ArcWorks Gallery, Riskful Training, Acrylic on encaustic board (Juror: Erin Becker, Norma Jean Calderwood Director of the Cambridge Art Association)
Black & White 2015 Brooklyn Waterfront Artists Coalition, A Sacred Trade (Juror: Christiane Paul, Curator of New Media Arts, Whitney Museum of American Art; New York, NY)
2013 Artist of the Week
The Art Connection
2009 – Corporate Art Loan Program
deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum
2009 Home Is Where The Art Is
Boston Children’s Hospital
2008 Advisory Board
Cambridge Open Studios (COS)
2003 – 2007 Public Art Commission  Advisory Committee
Cambridge Arts Council
2003 Juror
Monroe Center for the Arts, Competitive Landscape Exhibition
2002 Best In Show, Annual Open Juried Photography Show Stebbins Gallery, Cambridge (Juror: Paul Weiner)
2000 National’s Competition Finalist
Provincetown Art Association & Museum (PAAM)

MEMBERSHIPS

Cambridge Art Association (CAA) 2016 –
North Cambridge Arts (NoCa) 2000 –
Joy Street Artists 2014 –

 

REPRESENTATION

M Fine Arts Galerie Boston, MA and Palm Beach, FL
The Schoolhouse Gallery Provincetown, MA

 

RELATED EXPERIENCE

Provincetown Arts Magazine, Board of Directors 2019-
Rochester Museum of Fine Arts, honorary Art Advisory Member 2019-
Joy Street Artists Open Studios Advisory Board 2017-
Boston University, Graduate Program in Arts Administration, Program Assistant 2002-2015
Cambridge Arts Council Public Art Commission 2003-2007
Bruce Museum, Education Department 1994-1997