Artist’s award-winning pieces are truly off the wall
By: Erica Hammond
HIGHTSTOWN Take one step into Juanita Yoder’s studio at the Art Station on Monmouth Street and it’s hard to believe that her large-scale, abstract paintings on silk suspended in space are completed in the somewhat tight quarters.
"The nature of the medium takes a lot of space," she admitted.
Her bright and colorful home away from home is filled with sundry supplies, works in progress and is also inhabited by her musical parakeets.
"I love to work in a community. It’s exciting to me to have others work around me," she said. "I enjoy exchanges with the other artists."
Ms. Yoder, 42, focuses on painting on silk and she’s been working with fiber-reactive dyes on silk for a dozen years. A resident of Allentown, she is a formally trained painter. She was raised in Pennsylvania and earned a bachelor’s degree in art from Goshen College in Indiana and a master’s degree in art from Eastern Illinois University.
In March, Ms. Yoder was lauded with the 2006 Bene Award from Ministry and Liturgy National Catholic Magazine for her renditions of the Stations of the Cross, commissioned last year for the Church of St. Thomas More in Glendale, Ariz., a suburb of Phoenix.
"They saw the spirituality in my work," she said.
The 15 paintings on silk express the essence of the Stations of the Cross and are used for prayer and meditation. The paintings were created keeping the modern architecture of the church in mind and to bring the color and expression around the sanctuary.
"It got the art off the wall," she noted.
And as for her approach to her art, "I study how I’m experiencing the architecture, how people move through the architecture, the energy moves through the space," she said.
Ms. Yoder’s installation uses "color, motion and composition to express the essence of each individual station of the cross." The project took about a year to complete. The dyes are fixed by a steaming process, washed, ironed and hemmed before being displayed. Like other fine art, Ms. Yoder’s work has to be carefully cared for the pieces aren’t hung in direct sunlight.
"The project took my work to a different level in terms of the integration between my life and my painting. It seemed with each painting I had a lesson to learn with the piece. It was a meaningful project in that way," she said.
She also dabbles in creating clothing such as scarves and wraps. Her work is sold at Greene and Greene Gallery in Lambertville.
"They’re the local clearing house for my work," she noted with a smile.
She lives with her 13-year-old son, Niko, who brings her hope and inspiration on a daily basis.
"He’s very fantastic," she gushed and said he’s "inspiring in his love of electronics. He keeps me up to date on his computer."
The bulk of Ms. Yoder’s income comes from commissions and although her work "comes in fits and spurts," she’s been able to support herself through her art for more than 15 years.
"It helps to be diverse," she said, and noted that she also conducts small-scale classes at the Art Station and in the past had some teaching assistantships and did some framing to supplement her income.
Ms. Yoder’s artwork has been featured in the St. James Cathedral in Seattle, The Basilica of the National Shrine in Washington, D.C., and the Lawrenceville School Chapel. The Princeton University Chapel has collected three large-scale commissions and four processional pieces. Her work is also featured at Full Circle Family Massage and Healing Center in Cranbury.
Her work has been exhibited at the 2001 convention of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians in Washington, D.C., and the 2005 Presbyterian Association of Musicians in Montreat, N.C. Ms. Yoder’s artwork is also being translated into stained glass through an arrangement with stained-glass studios in Germany and New York.
Right now she’s in the proposal stages for some other projects. As for the future, Ms. Yoder would like to collaborate with other artists, possibly in the areas of fashion and glass.
Dreams, spirituality, nature and the human form are some key factors in creating her art. "Colors, textures and fabrics so much in the work itself inspires me," she said.
Those interested in learning more about Ms. Yoder’s artwork, classes or commissioning pieces may visit www.jykart.com.