Archive for the ‘Artists/Other’ Category
Monday, September 7th, 2026
“. . . what you have is only a sack of fragments
never to be filled: old bones, fossils,
facts, scraps of writing, sprawls of junk.
You know yourself only poorly and in part,
the best and the worst maybe forgotten.
However you arrange the pieces, however
authentic, a story is what you’ll have,
an artifact, for better or worse.
So go ahead. Gather your findings into
a plausible arrangement. Make a story.
Show how love and joy, beauty and goodness
shine out amongst the rubble.”
– Wendell Berry, SABBATHS 2006
left— Boss of Creation
found-paper collage catharsis by J A Dixon
6.625 x 9.25 inches
right— Seek the Honcho
found-paper collage catharsis by J A Dixon
6.625 x 9.25 inches
(in memory of W.B. ~ please support The Berry Center)
Posted in Artifacts, Catharsis, Collage, Homage, J A Dixon, Verse, W Berry | No Comments »
Sunday, August 30th, 2026
“To paint is not to copy the object slavishly, it is to grasp a harmony among many relationships.”
— Paul Cézanne
“In my Father’s house are many mansions:
if it were not so, I would have told you.”
— Gospel of John, 14:2
It was quite an honor yesterday to receive a first place prize at the “Bourbon & Brushes” gallery event in Midway. To be honest, I was happiest with the recognition of collage as a legitimate painting medium for landscapes — an unconventional approach within the most grand tradition of representational art. The Bluegrass region of Kentucky is home to multiple landscape artists. I take inspiration from so many of them who excel in pastels, watercolors, acrylics, and oils. More than one of these artists were present among the Saturday lineup. One can have hope without expectations and place an outcome in the considerate response of the jurors. A salute to the other winners (some took home premium whiskey!), plus my sincere appreciation to the panel of volunteer judges and to the energetic organizers: Midway Art Studios, Bluegrass Distillers, and the charming City of Midway. On top of it, they tied the evening to an outstanding street festival which featured the live classic rock that can still stir my bones. (Every picture tells a story, don’t it?)
With the window of time offered by this challenge, I was able to spend a long Monday on location at Elkwood Farm pasting an interpretation of the setting near their home mansion (where a tasting room for Bluegrass Distillers is housed), to complete the piece in my studio by the Thursday night deadline, and then to make a Friday delivery. My composition includes a “portrait” of a prominent misshapen tree, but the eye is drawn to the stately dwelling. I think I was successful in my attempt to include only the essential ingredients to grasp the character of the historic brick structure. At any rate, I won’t quibble with the jury’s verdict!
Many a Mansion
collage painting by J A Dixon
11 x 14 inches + wood frame, crafted by the artist
available for purchase
• First Place Prize
Posted in 1) Available!, Exhibitions, Honors, Landscape, Links, Music, P Cézanne, Verse, Video | No Comments »
Sunday, August 23rd, 2026
Pay a visit to Georgetown, Kentucky this month to view CONVERSATIONS, my current exhibition with pastel artist Julie Quick at Fine Art Editions Gallery. See many of my original plein air collage landscapes in person. For premium prints of my art, talk to proprietor John Stephen Hockensmith, a consummate reproduction specialist. I could not be more pleased with the archival quality and affordable pricing.
Posted in En Plein Air, Exhibitions, J A Dixon, J Hockensmith, Landscape | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 14th, 2026
Everyone!
You’re invited to the opening reception of
our duo exhibition at Fine Art Editions gallery.
Thursday, July 23 ~ 6:30 to 8pm
C O N V E R S A T I O N S
Dialogue in Pastel and Collage
with Julie Quick and John Andrew Dixon
Hockensmith’s Fine Art Editions
146 East Main Street
Georgetown, Kentucky
Watch the video promotion for the exhibition.
Posted in En Plein Air, Events, Exhibitions, J A Dixon, J Hockensmith, Landscape, Video | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 7th, 2026
“The artistic practice of John Andrew Dixon emerges from many years of experience in graphic design and a deeply considered engagement with the history of collage. He has developed a distinctive visual language in which compositional precision meets intuitive improvisation, and discarded material acquires renewed aesthetic value. Combining the discipline of a designer with the sensitivity of a landscape painter, Dixon approaches collage simultaneously as an image and as a material artifact.”
— Anna Kłos
This Thursday, July 9th, is the opening of the International Collage Art Exhibition in Poland at the University of Warsaw Library. It is an honor to have my nonrepresentational collage artwork as part of the landmark show. This body of work has been curated by Dr Anna Kłos, her fourth installment of an international project dedicated to contemporary collage art. It coincides with the 10th anniversary of Retroavangarda, the gallery that she organized to showcase her scholarship.
Modern Collage will be released as an accompanying publication, and I am pleased to announce that Wind Harbor and other examples of my work will be included.
The exhibition has been honored by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland. Official partners of Anna’s project include the Spanish Embassy, Argentinian Embassy, and the Czech Center in Warsaw. From what I understand, the display is scheduled over the next couple years for travel to selected museums across Europe. Presenting the work of 75 collage artists from around the world, it will highlight key developments and current trends in contemporary collage. I am proud to be one of the few artists representing North America and to be among the 50 artists chosen to appear in the new book.
Do I wish I could get on a jet with Dana and be there for the gala event? Of course — but “them cards ain’t been dealt yet.” I am more than satisfied to have recognition for my effort within the medium. Time will tell what the future holds.
Hot Ode (to jazz)
collage miniature by J A Dixon
2021, 3.5625 x 4.375 inches
collection of Retroavangarda
Posted in A Kłos, Collage, D L Dixon, Exhibitions, Honors, J A Dixon, Museums, Publications | No Comments »
Friday, July 3rd, 2026
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”
John Adams reportedly thought that today, the 3rd, should have been the best observance, since it more properly fit the signers’ act, with the 4th having been the public disclosure. It bears keeping in mind that tomorrow we also observe the bicentennial of the death of Adams and Jefferson, who both passed on the same day, July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration.
They are 18th-century men with flaws, of course, but we can never learn too much about these great revolutionaries, who, perhaps more than anyone of their time, helped articulate for posterity the American heart and mind. It is now our job to preserve for the future the true principles of what it means to live free under God.
I finally finished the McCullough biography. The new Metaxas book is a holiday present from Dana — toward the noble cause of getting my knowledge past being merely “dangerous.”
Posted in Current Events, D L Dixon, Priorities, Publications | No Comments »
Saturday, June 27th, 2026
“He was working at a pace he knew he could sustain until quitting time; he was hitting his lick. The difficulty had come to be balanced by his being equal to it. He seemed almost to be gliding, as if drawn on now not by will but by gravity.”
— Wendell Berry, ”A Friend of Mine” from That Distant Land
My collage painting sold at the “Paint the Town” reception on Saturday evening. No matter how much preparation I do, the annual plein-air challenge forces me to cut and paste faster than at any other time. This year I made a tiny preliminary study 
of my intended composition the previous day, and I think that helped me stay impressionistic enough to meet the speed constraint. My thanks to Kate Savage and all her Arts Connect board members who created another successful, celebratory event — plus the artwork buyer, too!
The resulting exhibition is on display at the Main Lexington Public Library until mid July. Visit the Arts Shop with this link to purchase other creations from the day — for as long as they last!
Aspect with Apse
St Peter Church, Lexington, Kentucky
collage en plein air by J A Dixon
on stretched canvas 10 x 10 inches
plus handcrafted wood frame
• S O L D
Posted in Collage, Constraints, En Plein Air, Exhibitions, J A Dixon, K Savage, Landscape, Links, Paint the Town Series | No Comments »
Friday, May 8th, 2026
“What I capture in spite of myself interests me more than my own ideas.”
—Pablo Picasso
“If you understand your painting beforehand, you might as well not paint it.”
– Salvador Dali
Small-format collage is an ideal medium for artistic experimentation. Finding a balance of color and form can combine with a spontaneity of meaning. It’s rewarding to do these exercises with scrounged material that otherwise would be discarded forever. Anybody can cut and paste! Who needs this cursed AI to fulfill the creative impulse?
On Those Who Dwell
collage experiment by J A Dixon
scrounged paper, tea bags, packaging
4.875 x 6.625 inches
Posted in Experiments, P Picasso, S Dali | No Comments »
Thursday, February 19th, 2026
“Collage artists put things together to make something new, and often we are the ones who have taken apart discarded things to do it, but there is always a much larger phenomenon at work — one of discord vs harmony, mechanism vs intuition, wastefulness vs thrift, cynicism vs affection.”
— from July 29, 2016
My deep exploration of collage began over 20 years ago with a nonrepresentational approach rooted in the MERZ and DADA traditions, but my recent concentration has been in pictorial collage, which I call “painting in papers.” Many pioneers of modern art collage considered themselves painters, and I increasingly anchor my intuitive orientation with that awareness. This miniature landscape was created in the studio from imagination and memory — recollections of a grim sky, but the sun breaks through for a few seconds to illuminate the trees. This is among the seen images that stick with me. Increasingly, these are the experiences that make me want to paint.
The Kentucky farmer-philosopher Wendell Berry tells us, “Things that belong together have been taken apart. And you can’t put it all back together again. What you can do, is the only thing that you can do. You take two things that ought to be together and you put them together. Two things! Not all things.” It is his metaphor for the creative life, and a tremendously healing admonition to those of us with a tendency to become overwhelmed by the enormity of the world’s chaotic disintegration. When I return to the studio from a natural place, I am in a better condition to put things together, with the enduring hope for a modest artistic breakthrough. And then to leave. To go somewhere small in the world and to fix something that is broken.
Breakthrough
imaginary collage miniature by J A Dixon
6.75 x 4.875 inches
Posted in 1) Available!, Collage, Dada, Influences, J A Dixon, Landscape, Merz, Priorities, W Berry | No Comments »
Thursday, November 6th, 2025
“Any readers who like your poems, doubt their judgment.”
— Wendell Berry
It is such a privilege to be the featured visual artist at The Berry Center’s ARTS & LETTERS celebration this Saturday. My LITTER-ally KENTUCKY landscapes will be on display through year’s end at their Agrarian Culture Center in New Castle.
Posted in En Plein Air, Events, Exhibitions, J A Dixon, Landscape, Literature, Verse, W Berry | No Comments »
