Jane Hambleton: Adventures Close to Home

Kala Gallery is excited to present Jane Hambleton: Adventures Close to Home in Mercy and Roger Smullen Print & Media Study Center. For 22 years, Jane Hambleton has woken up at her home in Berkeley and gazed out the window at the familiar view of her neighborhood – the surroundings that have provided the setting for her life. Hambleton's practice is to walk every day, often taking a route from home to studio and back with an open awareness of what is all around her. She revels in the details, the pitch of the roofs, the shadows created at different times of the day and the warm glow from windows lit from within, suggesting the lives of the people inside. "Even though there are no actual figures in any of the paintings (except for a hidden cat or two!) this show is as much about people as it is place," Hambleton explains, "Each painting represents a connection for me to my friends, family, and my neighbors." For the better part of a decade, Hambleton has been working primarily in graphite blacks, whites and grays. During the pandemic, her daily routine of walking and being totally present in her observations deepened and informed her exquisite drawings. She realized that there were things she could approach more vividly if they were rendered in color. She had been trained in painting but resolved to take up oils again with what she calls "beginners mind," staying open to what the process might teach her. "The first year was challenging," she said. "I had to familiarize myself with the tools, to study viscosity, color value, opacity and transparency all over again." Her standards were high. The subtle nuances of color gradation she was able to achieve in graphite were studied and sublime. She was determined to refine that same reverence for subject matter and detail in oil paint and to take her time. She had no theme in mind. "It's interesting," she remarks, "There are conscious and unconscious decisions that are made." The unconscious part often reveals itself when she stands back and looks at the work. "But somehow," she says, "I think the unconscious decision-making is where the magic is." Contemplating her finished paintings, she saw that many take place at twilight, during the dimming of the day. Hambleton's mother passed away two years ago, making the concept of the impermanence of things even more poignant for her. That which is most familiar and constant in a life will eventually be gone, she realized, held only in memory.