Artist Profile: Jeanne Lamosse

Jeanne Lamosse came to create art in Benicia by way of Mumbai, Malaysia, Japan, Honolulu, Los Angeles, Paris and San Francisco.  She works primarily in oil paints and some pastels. She discovered painting while in college, and halfway through school took a worldwide tour that ended in Honolulu, where she decided to pursue her master of fine arts degree.

Lamosse is a full-time artist who works from her Benicia studio in the Arsenal.  One day a week she works as a graduate level instructor for the Academy of Arts in San Francisco and visits her students in their studios. Her work has been in multiple group and solo exhibitions in California, Hawaii and Illinois.

Lamosse, who uses deep, rich colors, cites Matisse as a major influence. "As an artist, I have always found my work to be strongly influenced by my environment, by my internal, psychic space as well as by  external physical surroundings," her artist statement says.

Much of her current work is a tribute to her dog, Allegro, who died recently.  Allegro spent a lot of time with Lamosse in the studio while she worked, and his presence remains on canvas and in the items he left behind. Many of the paints Lamosse uses are stored in recycled, resealable dog-food containers. Allegro's dog bed remains in its place, and Lamosse — partially in tribute and partially out of habit — fills his water dish every day when she enters the studio.

Her show for this year’s Open Studio is dedicated to the memory of Allegro. Lamosse says she hopes that visitors will bring their dogs to her studio to help celebrate his life. "He was a volunteer for Paws for Healing,” she says of Allegro. “We had many other dog friends.” Lamosse has treats for canines that visit her show.

: 940 Tyler #9