Jill Viney, a sculptor and painter living in New York City, combines translucent materials with organic forms to create light and space in her pieces. To create her sculptures, she uses materials such as molded fiberglass and Plexiglas. Her most notable sculptures, “Baja and Pulse,” were spotted by a New York Times art critic, Barry Schwabsky. According to him, “Viney’s Baja and Pulse sculptures demonstrate a third possibility … a new kind of sculptural pictorialism.” The University of Missouri commissioned her to create an outdoor sculpture at its St. Louis Campus. The piece titled “Dwelling” uses shape, color, and light to create a sculpture that the viewer can enter. Viney states, “I wanted the viewer to see a rainbow of colors and, when inside, to feel those colors.” In addition, the Herron School of Art in Indianapolis commissioned her to create an outdoor sculpture. Her piece, “Barrow,” pulls inspiration from prehistoric burial sites in England. Viney states, “The dark inside with the silver exterior creates a luminous covering as the viewer enters the mound. Overhead as in a night sky, three rings of color hover above.”

She attended L’Ecole Julian in Paris, and Sarah Lawrence College receiving her master’s degree from Columbia’s School of the Arts. Her work, shown in the 2016 Sarah Lawrence College catalogue and in New York City by the Trans Hudson and Joyce Goldstein galleries, was included in “Fabricated Nature,” organized by the Boise Museum of Art.

"Orbital" 2007, Fiberglass

How did you get into art?
I have worked with my hands since I was six years old. I came from a family that did sewing, knitting, and crocheting. I started to learn how to draw through the comic books I read. As a teenager I took a sketching class and workshop, which taught me to saw and home techniques, as well as pattern making and working with materials such as fiber glass. It seemed like fun and not like a job. I loved art from the beginning.

My mom was an interior decorator and we lived in Europe for a while, so I was surrounded by art. I studied art history in Germany, and we had a class trip to Paris, and I wanted to learn French. I ended up studying at E’Cole Julian, a French Art History school in Paris. Here I learned to draw nudes, make casts for sculptures. I liked Paris so much that I stayed for one more year at an American College located there.

"Little Stone Beavers Series #10" 1974 Acrylic on canvas

I then moved to New York City and studied at Sarah Lawrence College. I had two great professors at this school. William Rubin, who went on to be a painting and sculptor curator at the MOMA. The way he talked about art was electric. And, the other professor was Joseph Campbell, who taught religions all over the world. After Sarah Lawrence, I went on to study at Columbia University, where I stayed for two years. It was 1968, which was a time of upheaval, so I specialized in banners with words and meaning. At Columbia, my professor, Meyer Shapiro, taught art on raw canvas, and I began to work with color on a canvas. I stayed in New York and my first show was in Connecticut at The Aldridge Museum.

What motivates you to create?
Beauty inspired by visual objects.

"Pulse II" 1995, Fiberglass

Who are your biggest artistic influences?
William Rubin, who made art talk and come to life. He helps you understand what you are seeing. We react to what we see.

Where do you find inspiration?
I have a passion for scuba diving and have gone through the Caribbean, California, and the Mediterranean for this. I find going through prehistoric caves in France and Spain inspiring with the sketching and art I see carved there. I like to see these sacred spaces.

What themes do you explore through your work?
1. Painting with color.
2. Environments.
3. Sculptures and fabricating with plastic and fiber glass.

"Woman Vacuum" 1979, Wood

Which one of your pieces has the most meaning to you?
Each group of work I do focuses on the environment such as sea creatures from my travels with scuba diving, which gives me the inspiration to make them and the light that I see when in the water. I try to bring this art form to life through my work.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?
In painting class in college, everyone has to face a certain fear, “Should I do this? We call it “The critic on your shoulder.” My advice is to Ignore the critic on your shoulder. Be fearless and stay focused.

What are your hobbies?
I really like sports such as scuba diving, skiing, and activities they lead to kinds of artistic impulses

Website: https://www.jillviney.com/

Interview by Alison Hernon, Editor-In-Chief, PhotoBook Magazine
Interview Questions by Angie Hines, Contributor, PhotoBook Magazine
Tearsheets by Alexa Dyer, Graphic Designer, PhotoBook Magazine

Jill Viney, Sculptor & Painter Based in NYC