Art Review: Jan Heaton at Wally Workman

Conventional wisdom holds that watercolor paintings are often small to medium-size pictures depicting an urban or rural landscape, offering a visual narrative of an old neighborhood or perhaps a lovely snapshot of a seascape in winter. "Quaint," "homey," "charming,"—such are the words and phrases that come to mind.

Not so for the new collection of works by watercolor artist Jan Heaton, currently on exhibit at the Wally Workman Gallery. Heaton’s over-sized watercolors are giant effervescent fields of swirling colors and graceful movement, with vibrant hues—goldenrods, aquamarines, cranberries—like those found in Crayola 64-packs.

A second-generation artist based in Austin, Heaton works exclusively in watercolor on pure cotton paper. The heavy-duty material allows her to construct textured environments by adding fluid layers of near-transparent washes that gradually build to a form. She often applies several different layers of color between drying periods, imbuing her works with the look and tactile sensation of acrylics on canvas.

Reminiscent of Georgia O’Keeffe’s earliest abstractions, which were inspired by the expansive landscape of West Texas, Heaton’s works are abstracted references to natural objects rather than their true representations. Shapes dance slightly out of focus, teasing the viewer to look a little harder and experience the work up close. For Heaton, as it was with O'Keeffe, careful observation does not translate into a scene's finite details. Rather, it captures the essence of the organic natural surroundings, lending them an ephemeral dreamlike quality. Heaton’s delightful watercolor visions will be on view through August 25.

Tip: Boss won’t let you gallery hop during the workday? Visit the galleries on West Sixth Street this Thursday, August 2, from 6–8 p.m. as they are open late every first Thursday of the month. Galleries include: F8, Wally Workman, Stephen L. Clark, Urban Roots, The Russell Collection, Art on 5th, and Lotus.

[Wally Workman Gallery Site]

Jan Heaton
Wally Workman Gallery
1202 W. Sixth Street
(512) 472-7428