A Portrait of the Artist: Carol Jason

Sculptor and abstract painter Carol Jason has been making wire and paper bead sculptures of the microscopic world recently.

She has an upcoming show at the Bethesda Public Library during October where she will feature her latest collection of wire and paper bead sculpture "critters," some of her more classic plaster works and acrylic paintings.

"I have always had an interest in science," said Jason whose "critter" sculptures have complex structural makeups. "I love the natural world, especially the microscopic world of critters and bugs."

From life experience she had come to the conclusion that sculpture and painting use different parts of the brain. Her sculptures celebrate tactile volumetric form whereas her paintings appear to dissipate into their atmospheric hues, which usually reflect changes in the seasons and natural light.

"Sculpting feels more like dance," said Jason who speaks from experience, having taken dance classes at the Corcoran College of Art and Design and Circle Yoga in Washington, D.C.

"Painting is more like poetry. It's evocative and has more to do with emotion," she added.

Overall art is intuitive and non-verbal for her, she said.

Originally from Dearborn, Michigan, Jason moved to D.C. to establish a family with her husband who is a journalist. They started a small business together, but Jason did not enjoy office work and decided to pursue art also. She had already received a diploma from the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts and decided to try her hand at pottery at Eastern Market Pottery on Capitol Hill.

Later she studied with Bob Epstein and Bill Lombardo at the Corcoran, where she explored techniques like raku firing and salt glazing. Her training led her to pursue a Master of Fine Art degree at American University.

While she had the opportunity to delve into her imagination and explore the fantastical world of monsters and whimsical beings through hand-building at the Corcoran, at American University she honed her skill at modeling the figure, which she enjoys the most, she said.

In her home studio, Jason works in wire, gouache, watercolor and collage. Many of her plaster and wax sculptures are completed in an academic setting. She leaves heavy-duty painting in acrylic for the Yellow Barn Studio in Glen Echo, where she works alongside other members of the Outloud Artists, a group of 12 artists who exhibit together throughout the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. In fall of 2010, they were at the and more recently at . Jason is their Treasurer and the group holds quarterly administrative meetings in her home in Chevy Chase.

Jason is also a member of the Yellow Barn Studio and Gallery and the Washington Sculptors Group.

This last year, Jason has shown her work at Glenview Mansion in Rockville, River Road Unitarian Church in Bethesda, Friendship Heights Community Center in Chevy Chase, Glen Echo Park in Glen Echo and in the Chevy Chase Village Art Show.

"Art is in everything. Everything that you do is a creative process," said Jason who comes from a creative family of architects, engineers, writers and interior designers.

Whether built by hand with individual pieces of clay, chiseled with sculpting tools, folded into prismatic teardrops in wire mesh, painted on thinly with a hake brush or densly packed into colorful beaded patterns, Jason's work transmits the touch of a delicate hand.

To visit the artist's website, click here.