im-age ar´chae-ol´o-gy™, [im-ij] [ahr-kee-ol-uh-jee], n. 1. The systematic recovery by artistic methods of imagery within the ground of a painting.2. A dig into the surface ground with the butt of a paintbrush to imprint an image.3. The space between the figure and the ground from which emerges a skeletal impression of an image.4. A constant searching for the middle ground through the application of paint and projected thought that culminated into a work of art.
Over the next several weeks I will be highlighting my journey into vlogging. Vlogging is my next step on my painters journey and I am starting with a painting called "Snake Pit". Each individual film posted, will eventually make up a digital story that I will post on my You Tube page. Your feedback is welcome.
Script: Definition: Painting Anthropology is the archaeological dig into the subconscious mind of a painter. "Anthropology", pronounced /ænθrɵˈpɒlədʒi/, is from the Greek ἄνθρωπος, anthrōpos, "human", and -λογία, -logia, "discourse" or "study". And this film will study the evolution of a painting. 7.5 minutes of film showing in fast motion the development of a painting. Narration: (voice over fast moving film)
"Snake Pit" An Image has come into my head, “Snake Pit”. The object has taken on a life of its own. The objects (tulip tree twigs) represent ideas or events that are going on in my own life in a symbolic sort of way.
The image conjures up an extended family situation in which all the players are engaged in a sort of snake pit. The image came first, however, the situation, “the snake pit” followed. What is important is that the two ideas were separate and then became one and are being played out on the painting ground. The image has context and meaning to the artist. The spectator would never know this part of the magic. But the video will eventually unearth this reality to the spectator and shed some light on the artistic process.
JOAN MARIE GIAMPA Image Archaeology: Doctoral Exhibition Mar 22 - Apr. 2, 2010
Opening reception: Wednesday, March 24, 5-7 p.m.
George Mason University Galleries is pleased to presents: "Joan Marie Giampa—Image Archaeology: Doctoral Exhibition." The exhibition opens Monday March 22nd with a reception on Wednesday March 24 from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. in the Mason Hall Atrium Gallery.
Washington painter Joan Marie Giampa is presenting her doctoral exhibition at George Mason University. She has exhibited extensively in the mid-Atlantic region over the past 20 years. Giampa’s calls her painting process Image Archaeology and refers to herself as an “Image Archaeologist™. Her personal iconography is based on the discovery of objects in nature in their native environment.
“After finding an object, I take it home and digitize it with my camera. I then manipulate the photo in a software program called Photoshop to uncover the objects underlying structure. The uncovering process is really a series of filters that I use in Photoshop to remove the objects “outer skin” and reveal its “skeleton”. Once I feel I have the “skeleton”, I can then take the image to canvas.
I staple wet gessoed canvas onto my studio wall and project the image onto the canvas. I then carve into the wet gessoed canvas with the butt of a paintbrush an imprint of the “image skeleton”. I scrub into the surface ground with multiple layers of paint and rub paint into the grooves of the dried gesso surface. Additional layers of paint are then brushed lightly over the beveled edges of the image to unearth the skeletal impression. More layers of paint are brushed on and wiped away as the image becomes the surface ground and the surface ground becomes the image. It is this process of digging into the canvas and discovering the object within the corporeal ground that makes it “Image Archaeology” ™.
Giampa has an MFA in painting from the University of Maryland. She is a candidate in the DACCE (Doctorate of Arts Community College Education) program at George Mason University and will advance to candidacy in the summer of 2010. Joan is the owner and operator of the Red Caboose Gallery in historical downtown, Vienna, Virginia and president of the Arts Alliance of Vienna; a group that is dedicated to invigorating an awareness and growth of a township style community arts scene.
George Mason University Mason Hall Atrium 4400 University Drive, Fairfax, Virginia 22030 703-349-7178
A Valentines Day Song...by singer songwriter John Mayer...Heartbreak Warfare... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pukH72Z8Xe0
...this is an awesome Valentines Day for me...much happiness and joy in the heart chakra lately...looking forward to the coming year and finishing the doctoral studies that have consumed me for the past five years... Life begins this Spring! Can't wait for the Gorge this Fall...sojourn of closure...
In preparation for my doctoral exhibition at George Mason I have developed a video for my work to coincide with the opening of the exhibition in March. Details to follow...
Vienna Virginia had a huge snow a few weeks ago. The timing was providential as I was invited to paint an image for the cover of Viva Tyson Magazine. The owner asked me to do the caboose in the snow. Apparently he loved my other caboose painting. When I was a child I would paint a snow scene every year at Christmas, so this is in alignment with my true spirit.
This has been an amazing year in so many ways for this artist. I opened a gallery and studio and school all in the same venue/space. I have had the opportunity to work with so many people. I really feel blessed to have the opportunity to do this. I also established the Arts Alliance of Vienna. We are working together in a symbiotic relationship to bring a greater awareness of art to the greater Vienna area.
My personal life took many turns this year as well. I separated from my husband after eleven years and wish him well. My daughter Giovanna is getting ready to graduate from College. She has taken after her mom in that she is a computer graphic artist. She will be residing in Venice, Italy full time next year. I will miss her as she is my heart. My son, Jeremy, the football player for Madison Highschool will graduate this year. He is off to school in the fall as an accounting major. He will, of course, do well. My younger boys, Aubrey and John Nicholas are doing well in their new school, Vienna Elementary. We moved this summer back into town. I am a true townie. I also went to Vienna Elementary school, so it is a natural fit for them.
I am preparing to finish my coursework in the doctorate program at George Mason this spring. After four long and hard years, I will finally advance to candidacy and prepare the ground for my dissertation. Hopefully by spring of next year I will be finished and everyone in the hotel industry can address me as Dr. Giampa. My greatest wish is to land a full time teaching position so I can finally begin to relax a little and enjoy my life without all the extra work involved in a doctorate program.
My wish is that all the children in the world have warm beds to sleep in and a full belly. God bless you and happy new year.
"Pilots View" is a painting that is inspired by a friend of mine who is a pilot. He flies to the middle east, Australia, and Hawaii frequently to deliver packages from America. I often wonder what the earth looks like from a "pilots view". If I were to imagine the sky from above, I would see little bubbles of light that flicker through the clouds to expose the earth below. I have embellished a little in this painting, as the view is skewed, as the pilots perspective is beyond the flying range somewhere in outer space.
A pilots life must be filled with adventure. Pilots must have many good friends in different parts of the world. Pilots are special people indeed! Their lives are truly blessed with the gift of flight and the ability to wander the earth in search of themselves.
I am staying in this pink and purple pallete from summer. The pod was found one evening when I took my sons to their playground in the school yard. It was left behind on the bench and I came upon much like I do all my earth objects with unexpected pleasure. The gift was that it was there waiting for me and so I took it home and photographed it and then added it to my magnolia pod collection.
I was at a friends house this past weekend for a social event and had some show cards with the original "Ipod" image on them. It was the first of my earth object series. Someone mentioned that it looked like a penis. I never thought of it that way. To me it looks like a beautiful magnolia pod that has been embedded into the ground of my painting.
This pod is passionate and still and she waits for a brighter future.
I have often wondered what happened to Rapunzel after she galloped off into the sunset with her gallant lover the charming prince. It occurs to me that Rapunzel may of had a difficult time adjusting to the "real world" after living in that tower for many long years. Her moral code must of been so finely established that when she engaged with the prince--her mirror-- she was not prepared for his world of instant chat rooms, Face book, Twitter, text messaging and skype.
You see Rapunzel spent many years honing her moral, and spiritual code of etchics--to a degree of such extreme rigidness and perfection--that she discovered she was more alone with her prince than when she lived by herself in the tower. She was used to her towers rotary telephone and notes written by hand. When she encountered her prince and mirrored to him her finely honed set of virtues, the prince did not reflect back to her the same degree of purity. And so her finely tuned world of fantasy was put to the test; and it so happened that when the two communicated, they were in such disagreement about how each perceived the world, that the prince got angry and sent her a text message to tell her they were done and to move on.
Rapunzel was so distraught by the abruptness of his actions that she did not know what to do. She spent thousands of dollars on therapy to tell her that the prince was selfish and not worthy of her; and that next time she would value herself more. When Rapunzel texted her confusion about the situation, he deleted her from his life at the flash of a finger tip, for in his world of virtual reality that was all it took. She was no longer his Facebook friend, twitter friend and he even deleted Rapunzel from his castle cell phone. Rapunzel was reduced to a delete button and was asked to leave the castle without discussion. Poor Rapunzel cried a moats worth of tears and cut all her hair off. She felt weak and unable to function, and her world turned from a bright blue sky to a thunderstorm of gray. Her moment of happiness turned into a nightmare called modern day relationships where men are from Mars and women are from Venus.
You see her prince was used to the real world and how people can come and go in your life in an instant. Rapunzel spent eons thinking about her little world in the tower and how the world should be and simply was not ready to climb out into the world of technology and fast moving jet engine air planes. Rapunzel was not used to all the rapid fire responses in the technology world whereby everyone is on constant response mode and spends little time formulating real thoughts that require reflection and form. So she went back to her tower and her prince went back to his worldly quest of conquering damsels in distress; and never truly spending the time it takes to get to know his damsels.
The prince loved the conquest, but failed miserably at the relationship because he had an adrenaline addiction...like most techno junkies on the planet today. The prince honed his skills of perfecting the rescue and compartmentalized his ability to communicate with his damsels. He was a selfish prince and life was about his terms that stemmed from his perfectionistic nature. His obsessive compulsive thinking backed his mind into a corner and fear stepped in where love should of bloomed. And in the end, his fears won out and he lost Rapunzel to his own mind. You see the prince was also a product of his environment where quick decisions could cost him his life and he was accustomed to staying the course of chosen action just like he learned during his knighthood training. He could not love Rapunzel for who she was for that required him to step out of his safe zone and accept the truest gift of all that Rapunzel had to offer...unconditional love.
Rapunzel had no problems adjusting back to her tower for it is a safe place to exist. She can look out at her blue moon again in perfect peace knowing that her world stays the same up there...peaceful and without drama. And she can love her prince in her mind and know its safe; and yearn for him in her heart remembering his warm and tender voice when he sang to her up in her tower and loved her from afar.
I had a dream this summer which turned into a waking vision. The dream was so real that it stayed with me for days and now it is a constant daily passenger in my thoughts. In the dream I was standing in front of all the souls in heaven being applauded. As I looked out over an ocean of souls into a mist of whites , purples and pinks, I felt completely loved in this sea of spirits and completely complete. The gift of the dream was that I was standing next to my twin soul--the one they say that is with you since the beginning of time. The audience that stood before us was noisy and active and chirping for the two souls before them who travelled such a long and weary journey to this place. They say that twin souls rarely come together on earth, but when they do it is a gift that is heaven sent. I had a dream this summer--a waking vision--and it remains a constant passenger in my thoughts.
e into my head, “Snake Pit”. The object has taken on a life of its own. The objects (tulip tree twigs) represent ideas or events that are going on in my own life in a symbolic sort of way. 
