Art & Galleries
Artist Spotlight: Jami Tobey
by LEANNE HAASE GOEBEL
Jami Tobey grew up in Santa Fe, New Mexico, working alongside her father, Gene Tobey, a well-known sculptor. Although she went on to graduate from Western State College in Gunnison, Colorado, with a degree in fine art and English, Tobey says her father was her best teacher. After graduating, Tobey taught school for six years, but it was always her goal to put together a collection of work for a show. In 2004, her then 2-year-old son was diagnosed with autism. When Jami quit her 3rd grade teaching job to take care of him, she found the time to paint while he was in school and at night, finally allowing her to fulfill her dream as an artist.
The Village
acrylic and ink, 36 x 36
Some have described Tobey's work as loose and impressionistic, but Tobey sees structure and pattern in her landscape paintings, which evoke mosaics and stained glass. "I like to reflect upon [the landscape]," Tobey says. "I like the colors that nature comes up with on its own, and I like toying with them in my paintings." She finds that the colors themselves often have a deeper meaning, reflecting phases in her own life. At a one-woman show not long after her dad passed away, she realized the paintings all had orange in them. Out of curiosity she looked up the meaning of the hue and found that orange is a healing color.
A prolific painter, Tobey works on two paintings at a time and completes about 100 in a year. She describes her process as a little like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. "Where am I going with this?" she asks herself, and then the pieces fall into place. "It's fascinating," she says. "When I get an idea, I have to sit down and paint. I can't go to sleep until I start it."
Galleries
• Adagio Galleries, Palm Desert, California, 800.288.2230, www.adagiogalleries.com
• Art Incorporated, San Antonio, Texas, 800.225.0278, www.artincorporated.com
• Forms Gallery, Del Rey Beach, Florida, 561.274.3676.
• Raindance Gallery, Durango, Colorado, 970.375.2708, www.raindancegallery.com
• The Gallery at 822 Canyon Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico, 505.989.1700, www.gallery822.com
• Red Stone Gallery, Park City, Utah, 435.575.1000, www.theredstonegallery.com
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Issue: December 2009
