About
Connie spent her childhood and early adulthood in Hawaii and Japan (where she was born), and moved to California at age 30. Always a creative child, she took art classes whenever possible in high school, then majored in art at a liberal arts college, graduating with a focus on painting.
After college, needing to make a living, she dabbled in commercial art and publishing before eventually settling into a career in Silicon Valley as a technical writer.
For many years Connie's artistic bent found expression in a variety of places, but especially in theater art. Eventually, wanting to return to a more pure form of art, she returned to painting, starting with small still lifes, and moving to larger abstracts, and then to figurative work.
You can visit Connie's blog at conniekleinjans.blogspot.com.
Artist's statement
I paint my best when I respond to my inner impulses or desires, when I work partly intuitively and partly academically.
I do different kinds of work because they express different things that I love. With the figurative work and the faces, I love that I can convey a story or a mood. With the abstracts I love the dialogue between me and the painting, the composition decisions, the experimentation. In both, I love adding texture out of whatever is on hand.
After the process I love the product: When I can show integrity and masterful qualities. I'm currently drawn to the organic mark, to shapes and lines that have some soul, that come from the gut.
Shows
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Silicon Valley Open Studios - 2012 to present
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All Mixed Up (Mixed Media) - Santa Cruz Art League, Santa Cruz, CA, July/August 2014
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Individual display - Sunnyvale Library, Sunnyvale, CA, Feb/March 2014
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XXFactor - South Bay Chapter of the Women's Caucus for Art, Martin Luther King Jr. Library, San Jose CA, Jan/Feb 2014
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Art Times Three, three-artist group show, Main Street Cafe and Books, Los Altos, CA, Sept. 2013
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Part of public displays - Los Altos Art Club, 2012
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Fur, Feathers, and Fins - Pacific Art League, Palo Alto, CA, June 2011
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Open Member Exhibition - Pacific Art League, Palo Alto, CA, June 2011
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RED - Pacific Art League, Palo Alto, CA, May 2011
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20/20 Art Show - 20th Street Art Gallery, Sacramento, CA, April/May 2010
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SBAWCA 20th Anniversary Show - Art Object Gallery, San Jose, CA, Sept. 2019