I describe myself as visually impaired and learning disabled. I am a socially engaged artist who loves her art work. I like to be a perfectionist at my drawings for myself. I’m a drawer who works with cartoon images and I like to work on still lifes.
A challenge for me is slowing down in my art work and working on structuring faces. I would like to develop my mixed media sculptures as a goal. An ambition I have is to publish and illustrate children’s stories.
I gear my art work more towards children’s illustration which causes me to use brighter colors in my art work. I love holidays and I like to make cards for special occasions. My art is based on the kind of mood I’m in at that moment. Trace Adkins is a favorite artist whose music I like and he’s cute to me.
I like to draw things that brighten up my spirit and the day; images of peace, love and happiness. When I drew Noah’s Ark the people in the drawing turned out to be similar to myself and my husband. One of the reasons I chose to draw the bee character is because I’m known as “Queen Bee” at NIAD. I try to put myself into my art sometimes. I like to go to different workshops to get more hands on learning and more ideas in my art. I like to use the techniques I learn to create projects on my own.
I like to draw pictures on card stock because it’s stronger. I outline my work with Sharpies to make it stand out more. I like to come up with silly creations and characters.
Sometimes I start with one project and keep building on it. It can evolve and change over time like with my maps, collages and fiber sculptures. I like to use anything and everything in art. To me there’s no limits on what materials can be used for art work. It’s just about having fun with art.
// Rebecca’s available work //
recent exhibition history
Mud Pie Mansion, organized by Kristin Farr // NIAD Online Exhibition // August 2023
Exploring Arts Through Sound // organized by NIAD artists Kiesha White, Rebecca Jantzen, and Luis Estrada // NIAD Annex Gallery Exhibition // June 2023
Into the Brightness: Artists from Creativity Explored, Creative Growth & NIAD // Oakland Museum of California // May 2023
What’s Cookin’?! organized by Terri Moore // NIAD Gallery Exhibition // November 2022
Feeling Language, organized by Kate Laster // NIAD Gallery Exhibition // October 2022
A Little Bit of Everything: Fashion & Fiber at NIAD // NIAD Gallery Exhibition // July 2022
A New Geometry, organized by e bond // NIAD Online Exhibition // July 2022
High Five, organized by Emma Spertus and Ember Avalos // NIAD Online Exhibition // June 2022
Connect the Dots // SAIC Wellness Center, Chicago, IL // March 2022
WIN WIN 10 Silent Auction Preview Exhibition // NIAD Gallery Exhibition // February 2022
Menagerie on 23rd Street, organized by Prajakti Jayavant // NIAD Windows Exhibition // December 2021
A Year Through the Windows: A Retrospective of NIAD’s 2021 Windows Exhibitions // NIAD Online Exhibition // December 2021
Small Press Book Bazaar // SFMOMA // December 2021
Con Los Animales Estamos Conectados, organized by Christo Oropeza // NIAD Windows Exhibition // November 2021
Road to Nowhere, selected by Eric Shiner // NIAD Online Exhibition // January 2021
A Kind of Movement, organized by Jay Wehnert // Portland Art And Learning Studios // 2019
Ether Here Nor There: Anthony Grant x NIAD // NIAD Art Center // 2019
Exquisite Corpse: CG x CE x NIAD // NIAD Art Center November // 2018
Prints: An Overview // NIAD Art Center // 2018
Animals: A To Z // NIAD Art Center // 2017
Publications
Connect the Dots exhibition catalog // Wellness Center, School of the Art Institute of Chicago // April 2022
100 Stories of Belonging in the S.F. Bay Area, edited by Christine Wong Yap, 2019.