Quiet Humanism in Recent Work by UD Watercolorist Jac Tilton
Nov 17, 2014 | Kristi Lynch
The Charles and Elizabeth Bisignano Art Gallery in the University of Dubuque’s Heritage Center, announces a show of recent work by Jac Tilton. The show will be on display from Monday, November 17 through Friday, January 2, 2015. An an opening reception will be held on Friday, December 5 at 6:00 p.m., prior to the second annual Christmas at Heritage Center event.
Though Tilton’s paintings have been displayed locally and have won regional watercolor awards, this is his first one-man show in Dubuque, with 25 watercolors on display. According to the catalog accompanying the show, Director Alan Garfield states “Jac Tilton, who is primarily known at the University of Dubuque as the University web editor, is a quiet artist. His pictures are soft symphonies of light and color; no radical chic comes from his brush.”
WHAT: Opening. Jac Tilton: Recent Works
WHEN: Friday, December 5, 2014, 6:00 – 7:00 p.m.
WHERE: Charles and Elizabeth Bisignano Art Gallery, Heritage Center
Jac Tilton has been described as a watercolorist with quite a bit of patience. “Managing watercolor is like working with other media,” he says. “You have to get to know it, work with it, and accept it. It does little good to fight it. Certain things are going to happen in the process of creating a watercolor and you need to be able to anticipate those.”
Tilton is a former art educator and has held various management positions in advertising, marketing, graphic design and web development during his career.
He has worked exclusively in watercolor for most of his career, but recently has added non-representational works in graphite, carbon and charcoal to his portfolio. His watercolors and drawings are in private collections across the U.S, Canada, and Russia.
He is a Signature Member of the Illinois Watercolor Society and a former member of the Board of Directors and Signature Member of the Iowa Watercolor Society. He is also a member of the National Watercolor Society, the Transparent Watercolor Society and was a founding member of the Galena Artists' Guild.
“Many of my watercolors result from my attraction to old or out of the way places and subjects,” stated Tilton. “I'm attracted to these subjects not from a sense of nostalgia but because of the patina that the process of existing imparts to them. The results of their use, abuse, neglect or abandonment makes for very interesting subject matter. My figurative watercolors result from capturing people in a candid moment when they are the most natural and least self-aware.”
Gallery hours are Monday-Friday, 12:30-5:30 p.m. The 12-page color catalog is free of charge.
