Artwork copyright Shelley Jordon. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Crystal Water, 1996

Shelley Jordon
American (born 1954)

Location: Edison Elementary School, Tacoma

About the Artwork

Crystal Water is a still life painting by artist Shelley Jordon. The richly detailed composition highlights the interplay of light, pattern, and color among flowers, fruit, fabric, and crystal vases. The scene is set against the horizon of a distant landscape. The artist notes, “My paintings celebrate the power and beauty of domestic spaces and objects... The objects, culled from daily life and painted larger than life, take on a monumental quality as viewed against the landscape, challenging established hierarchies between traditionally male and female spaces.” Jordon's still lifes communicate through a window with typical urban or natural Northwest landscapes -- of forests, shipyards, mountains, and more. These background landscapes make the universal objects specific to the Northwest. Jordon paints in natural light, directly from life. She notes, "Light is the force which brings to life my otherwise still life objects. The same light that describes the form simultaneously destroys it, turning the still life objects into abstract shapes of color and pattern."

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Tacoma Public Schools.

About the Artist

Portland, Oregon-based artist and teacher Shelley Jordon creates still-life, landscape, and narrative paintings as well as animations and video installations. A graduate of the School of Visual Arts in New York City and Brooklyn College, where she received her Master of Fine Arts degree, Jordon is a professor of art at Oregon State University.