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Juliet Seignious

  Juliet Seignious was born in Manhattan. She began painting and dancing in an after school program in Junior High School. Perceiving
her potential, the program director of these programs submitted applications to the High School of Music and Art as well as the High School of Performing Arts (of Fame). She was accepted to both, but decided to go to the High School of Performing Arts for Dance. After graduating, she was offered a scholarship to Julliard, the Martha Graham Dance Company and the New York City Ballet training academy - she chose the third option. After reallzing that ballet was too restrictive, Juliet became a founding member of the Alvin Alley Dance Company, moving later to Broadway, fllms and television.

In 1990, Juliet began painting again, studying at the Art Students League and private instruction from Joseph Parenti. Since 1990, Juliet has had her work exhibited at numerous galleries.

Juliet has also been commissioned to paint murals in San Diego and has toured and exhibited her work in several High Schools to encourage and inform youth about art, spirituality, and social issues.

Juliet's paintings reflect her deep connection to her African-American Heritage. After a visit to her parents' birthplace in Fdisto, South Carollna, she saw the powerful and varied Gullah people. She was inspired to paint faces. In these faces she finds the stories of the past (not only our African past, but, our American and collective past), strength, wisdom, courage, dreams and visions. She paints images of her thoughts and feelings, using oils, acrylics, pastels and everything else she can get her hands on for both texture and dimensions.

Artist Statement

Journey Paintings

My Journey series emerged from a very specific moment and in a very specific space. One night on my trip to Edisto, I saw these long figures in the distance (shrouded by shade and overhanging foliage). The figures were moving away from me and towards some location in the distance. It was not clear where they were going, but it was clear that they were going there together. In this moment, I heard the following, which emerged (at once) in me and around me:

Sometimes the journey is taken alone and it appears endless. At other times, the journey is traveled with others and it is short-lived. Traveling by land, sea, sky or in the mind, the journey has many faces and goes many places. Sometimes the journey is a struggle. Sometimes, one does not want to go any further; but, rather, wish to rest and stay put. Regardless of one's intentions, the journey pushes one forward and soon they discover an endless array of experiences and openings. This series attempts to capture the essence of this experience

Angel Paintings

Visiting Edisto Island in South Carolina was a pivotal experience for me. In a church that I visited, there were all of these beautiful black faces sitting around me. I was struck by the color of the people in part because of the wide variety of hues and shapes. In part, I was also struck by the juxtaposition between the individuals that sat around me and the colors of the people displayed on the altar and in the stain glass windows surrounding everyone. In these locales were figures of saints that were of a hue different from those faces in the church. I sat there puzzled at the situation, wondering why there were no black religious icons in the church. At that moment, I realized that paintings of religious beings, emerges from the imagination grounded in the human mind and in the human experience. As such, whatever limitations existed in humankind would also be carried over into art itself

I was moved to paint angels of "liberation, and represented figures that were of another world and were of African descent. I wanted to let my imagination take flight into the world of the spiritual

Of course, I later realized that my creations were a reflection of what I am. By painting black angels, I was at once challenging stereotypes and cultural products and replacing them with another. Thus, once again, I recall the three matrices discussed by Sartre in 1956: the dimension of seeing, the dimension of being seen and the dimension of being conscious of being seen by others.

"An Odyssey of Whispers"

I seek to explore the interconnection between abstraction and concreteness within the genre of African American story telling and historical reconstruction.

 

Art Education

1973 - 1975 Art Students League (Howard Sandon)

1976 - 1981 River Cultural Center of the Arts (Joseph Parenti)

1982- Present Self Taught

Gallery Exhibitions

2005 Pounder - Kone Artspace Group Show

2004 lona Gallery "Spirits Among Us" Savannah, Georgia. Solo Show

2003 Danny Simmons Corridor Gallery Brooklyn, New York "Sankofa" Group Show

2003 Serendipity Glen Ridge, New Jersey Journey Solo

2003 Inter Visionary Gallery Washington, DC "Dance" Group Show

2003 Northern Westchester Center for the Arts Mount Kisco, New York Black Hair Group Show

2002 Danny Simmons Corridor Gallery Brooklyn, New York Group Show

2002 Graham Gallery Washington, DC Solo Show

2002-2001 Satta Gallery Brooklyn, New York Solo Show

2001 Danny Simmons Corridor Gallery Brooklyn, New York Group Show

2001 Art Center Gallery New Milford, New Jersey Black History Celebration Group Show

2001 Northern Westchester Center for the Arts Mount Kisco, New York Faces Group Show

2001 Graham Gallery Washington, DC Christmas in October Group Show

1998 Akente Express Gallery Denver, Colorado Solo Show

1998 Black Heritage Western Museum Denver, Colorado Solo Show

1998 Black Heritage Gallery Houston, Texas Solo Show

1997 The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Texas Call and Response Group Show

1997 Barnes/Blackman Gallery Houston, Texas Black & White Relations Group Show

1997 Bertice Berry Commissioned Mural San Diego, California

1996 Black History Group Show Barrett House Gallery Poughkeepsie, New York

1996 Solo Show 'Struggle, Strength,and Survival' Winslow Gallery Poughkeepsie, New York

1995 Solo Show Gloria Marcus Gallery Stamford, Connecticut Paintings

1995 Solo Show Arts Gallery Minneapolis, Minnesota Paintings

1994 Solo Show Millbrook Arts Center Millbrook, New York Paintings