NAME: jeanne wilkinson
BIRTH PLACE: Duluth, Minnesota
BIOGRAPHY
The Western Walkabout Series is a collaboration between myself and my son, Andrew Yonda (photographer/musician), and it depicts straightforward, real-time photos of the Painted People (former Barbies and Kens) in their first Vision Quest, a trip from the mountains (Colorado) to the sea (California). Choreographed by myself, photographed by Andrew, this trip mirrored one I took in a painted VW microbus in 1969. The People in these photos are Red, Ayla, Mr. Blue, Crystal, Rocco and the Horse with No Name.
In the Sky People and Night in the City series, the People enter a new world via the magic carpet of Photoshop. The imagery is layered with my photos of nature, the city, the People and my paintings and drawings. The clan now has three babies and many more animals including Ella (elephant), Ursula (turtle) and Baba-Ram.
Called “iridescent” by Dan Bischoff in his review in the New Jersey Star Ledger, they are a kind of Paleo-Postmodern migratory clan, trekking across the face of an earth that reacts to their presence by becoming more alive, more beautiful, more revelatory of its underlying forces. Cities turn into strange night places where streets become fluid streams, skies morph into oceans and webs of life, buildings both harbor and dissolve into fantastic life-forms. The Painted People traverse a world that has been altered to reflect a world of premonition, environmental change (apocalypse?) and natural magic.
The Colassa Series depicts self-portraits of a world inhabited by the female version of the Colossus.
I grew up by the pristine shores of Lake Superior, in Duluth, Minnesota and lived in the western suburbs of Minneapolis in my teen years. In the late 60's I spent some time in San Francisco in the waning days of the "Love" era, moved to a rural commune in West Central Wisconsin in the 70's and was a dairy farmer for ten years. I went back to school in the 80's, got my art degree at the University of Wisconsin/Stout, moved to New York City, graduated from Pratt Institute with my MFA, and am now an artist and writer.
My husband, Frank Lind, is also an artist. My two sons live in Madison, Wisconsin. Aaron Yonda is one-half of Blame Society Productions which produces the award-winning Chad Vader series; Andrew Yonda is one-half of the indie music group, the Buffali.
