Artist Bio
I had the good fortune of growing up in a family of artists. My father, a photographer, also loved pen and ink, my mother lived for her extensive gardens, flower arranging and crafts, while my sister began painting and drawing at an early age and later worked in commercial art.
I spent the first thirty-five years of my life creating music and playing in rock, and later, African bands. Then came a strong pull toward art. For several years I worked in metal, creating abstract wall pieces, primarily from copper. This eventually gave way to working in glass, creating wall pieces, and some time after that, sculptures, in glass, metal and wood. Acrylic paintings have also often been part of the repertoire along the way. Musical instrument art has been a more recent addition, with non-functioning wall pieces created from acrylic sheet. Asian inspired ink paintings have, for some years, been quietly floating the background, developing. These works owe largely to my deep interest in meditation, Chi Gong and various other Eastern disciplines, which I have been studying for most of my adult life.
I have never felt the desire to be formally trained in music, art, or any other creative endeavour as it doesn't quite suit my personality and learning style. I find much more enjoyment in simply approaching whatever art form I feel inclined to approach and taking a step. I thankfully possess an strong faith in the creative Flow from which all true art stems and it is this faith that, for the most part, overshadows doubts and other mental chatter and allows me to simply proceed. As questions arise, they are either researched or answered intuitively. The process is much like setting out on a journey knowing only an overall direction. Each step leads to the next and gradually, a trust develops, allowing one to settle into the ongoing unfoldment, one again joyously realizing that not knowing is often much more fruitful than knowing.
Artists Statement
Art is adventure. It gives me a place to let go and trust life in whatever it’s offering in the moment; an open-hearted leap into the unknown. "Mistakes" are avenues leading to new lands, "disaster" is a door that just flung open. Every possible human emotion shows up; delicious pleasure, meditative quietude, frustration, bewilderment, fascination — all of it, and it's all within an very enjoyable context of adventure and discovery. Each finished piece is an expression and a record of one particular adventure.
Many artists endeavour to convey an idea through art, to stimulate commentary, perceptions and thinking in general. I’m usually more inclined to hope that whoever encounters the art relates to it through feeling. In one second art can communicate something far more significant through a silent feeling than can two hours of mental dissection. Nothing we can ever say or think about something will ever really capture what was experienced before we began speaking or thinking. The sound of rain ... just as it is ... clear, uninterpreted, true. There is so much beauty in life that asks nothing more from us than just being quietly aware.
The immense joy and intrigue I feel during the creative process leads directly to another very pleasant feeling: knowing that in the end, when the Flow is done with me for the moment, and on my easel sits a completed work, it will go out into the world and attract someone who resonates with it, and a beautiful relationship will begin, a love affair. The painting will become part of all that is loved in their life, a comforting and inspiring presence. I've seen this occur more than a few times and it brings me enormous pleasure. In this there is nothing more I can ask of art; the adventure, from initial inspiration to final resting, has been a gift.
Jay Roma Lamb
Curriculum Vitae Jay Roma Lamb
Exhibitions:
Group show Blue Rock Gallery (current representation).Calgary
2009 Willow studio group show Saskatoon
2008 Willow Studio solo show Calgary
2006 Willow Studio group show Calgary
2003 Willow Studio solo show Calgary
2002 Artists of the World group show Calgary
Other Media:
August 2, 2008 Full page article, The Calgary Herald, . “The Art of Peace”.
August 2008 Television interview and demonstration. City TV
2007 Television interview and demonstration. CTV Calgary
Various small articles and mentions in design magazines
2012 to present: ongoing representation by Blue Rock Gallery with numerous group shows.