Jeanne Allen

Jeanne Allen artist of Plein air, Expressionism and Color-field.

                       Online: Art Slant Jeanne Allen

Jeanne Allen has received recognition since the 1950s, when in her twenties, she emerged as an artist who experimented with the transition from Abstract Expressionism to the Color-Field painting of the 1960s.  While she is perhaps best known for her colorful radiant canvases of plein air and landscapes, it is her lush works of abstract acrylics with loose brush strokes executed in a water color manner which accentuate her growth and experimentalism.

She first experimented with aspects of her innovative style and techniques while studying for her BFA ‘53 at Kansas University where she was elected to Delta Phi Delta, honorary art fraternity.

During the mid 1950’s, Jeane Anderson worked as an art teacher at Celia Clinton School, Tulsa, Oklahoma.  Her credentials included a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Kansas University, an MA and MS.  Before this she was employed as Art Education Curator at Philbrook Art Center, Tulsa. 

Art studies, ancient pyramids, and the Cha-Cha were all part of the experiences of Jeane Anderson during her 1955 summer studies at Universidad de las Americas in Mexico City. .

The Universidad Art Workshop program included classes in oil painting and silkscreen on fabric.  Other classes included lectures on Mexican culture, architecture, history, and archaeology, plus field trips to Teotihuacan, Puebla, Cholula and many sites in Mexico City. 

Field trips included Palacio de Bellas Artes, the major art museum in Mexico City, the National Palaced the Museum of Anthropology.  Lectures and study on site of paintings and murals of artists included: Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, Rufina Tamayo, Jose Clemente Orozco, Juan O’Gorman, and David Sequeiros. Fields trips to the pyramids at Teotihuacan,  and to Puebla included an onyx factory, ceramics and tile production.  Another trip was to a glass factory which produced mouth blown containers.

Cultural events included bullfights showing the extremely graceful and daring bullfighters.  Music of Mexico gave another aspect of the culture such as Mariachis, folk music, classical, and contemporary dance music of the Mambo and Cha, Cha. Cultural extras included: ballets, concerts, plays, and performances. 

Visits to various cafes, dining on local cuisine plus local produce markets in Toluca introduced many kinds of fruits and vegetables grown by local farmers.  The whole summer school program included a broad spectrum of many cultural events. (1955)

She has also visited many art museums all around Europe and studied special art in Switzerland, France, Holland, and Italy.

Over the past several decades, the artist’s experimental works have assumed a stature equal to that of her works on canvas.  Her masterful blending of colors and shapes catch the most highly charged and vibrant aspects of her art.  Her skillful use of drawing, space and color redefines new light on her entire career.

Her work is executed expressively with emphasis on color and form in the Color Field Manner which simplifies and carries an emotional impact.  Her styles span from impressionistic landscapes to abstracts using Fauvist colors. 

She studied painting and drawing with Raymond Eastwood, oil with Frederic Taubes, Sculpture with Eldon Tefft and Bernard Frazier.  Summertime was spent studying painting, silkscreen and cultural arts at Universidad de las Americas, Mexico City.  She studied watercolor in various workshops, ceramics with Jane Heald and collage techniques with Jeanne Dunlap, and Color Field in Santa Monica.  She is a constant student of other artists including Diebenkorn, Frankenthaler, Lundeberg, Monet, Derain, Van Gogh, and Calder.

Her paintings and ceramics have been shown with the Malibu and Pacific Palisades Art Associations, Santa Monica Mountains Plein Art Artists, Rustic Canyon Gallery, The Ebell Club, and Allied Artists of the Santa Monica Mountains, and all around Santa Monica. While teaching for Los Angeles she completed her Master of Arts and a Master of Science.  Online: Art Slant Jeanne Allen

Awards, Juried Shows

1954: Philbrook Art Center show

1955:  Honorary award: Chicago Art Institute

1955:  Honorary award: Universidad de las Americas.

1990: PPAA: First: Mixed Media:  Owls

1991: Finalist:  Allied Artists of Santa Mountains

1991:  May: PPAA: Oil: Temescal to Topanga

                        Watercolor:  Malibu Lagoon

1991:  Solo Show PP Library Gallery: March: Oil, WC, MM

1992:  PPAA: Photography: Second: Barn At Capitol Reef

                       Oil:  Third: Sierra; Plein Air

1992:  April-May: Solo show: Glendale Federal Bank

1992:   Ebell Club Group Show: Oil, WC: Photo: Mixed

1993:  November: PPAA: Photography: First:  Blue Boats

1993: Religious Art Show Pacific Palisades, CA.

2011:  November: PPAA:  Mixed Media:  collage 2^nd place

2012:  May PPAA:  Acrylic Abstract: Elba I; Intergalactic; Splash I

2012: November, PPAA; Mixed Media, photography