Archive for the ‘Movements’ Category
Friday, July 31st, 2026
It is hard to believe how long it has been since I first sat to observe the Caldwell stable with the Plein Air Artists of Central Kentucky. It would be two years before I returned to the same spot for more pasting, and now this panel is finished at last, nearly a year after that! At any rate, I am pleased with the result, so this piece will be included in our upcoming show at Art Center of the Bluegrass. My thanks to Marion and Rob Caldwell for the extended hospitality!
The 2026 exhibition of PAACK artworks has five of my plein-air creations. The collage artwork featured here has a horse (Rocky) and a smaller piece includes cattle. Incorporating livestock into my pictorials has been a long and preposterous gestation, and, after tricking myself into breaking the ice at the 2025 Paint the Town challenge, I’ve gotten more comfortable this season with interpreting them in papers.
It’s about time, don’t you think?
Stable with Rocky
collage en plein air by J A Dixon
found papers, tissue, gel transfers, tea bags
on canvas panel, 10.875 x 8.125 inches
available for purchase
Posted in 1) Available!, En Plein Air, Exhibitions, Ingredients, J A Dixon, 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 »
Monday, June 29th, 2026
“Although I have tiny, weak wrists and painful thumb joints, the great blessing of my life has been my able hands, ever responsive to what in contrast has always seemed to be a limited and resistant creative vision, more prone to disappoint than my loyal dexterity.”
— journal, 1/12/25
It is fortunate indeed that one of the most extraordinary heritage sites in the Midwest happens to be located nearby — Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill. One would think that an artist fond of working outside might make art there often. I have not. The probable reason is that I did not consider my evolving skills up to the task — until recently. Or perhaps I should say that it was never about a facility with paper at all, but more to do with an apparent reluctance to interpreting landmark-worthy scenes.
I am getting past that stumbling block, thank goodness.
I began with the sheep enclosure. During my first visit, I sketched a workshop and dwelling on the east side of the settlement, too. When I returned to that same spot, I focused on completing the drystone-lined pen, but kept pasting paper on the other architectural composition now featured here. Documenting my time in its studio follow-up was not precise, so I describe East Village as a plein-air piece with hesitation, although it has the spirit of one for sure. My goal was to capture the dignity of the setting with a rustic effect. As part of the finished look, I preserved rough edges of a scrounged substrate. Your opinion would be of interest to me!
East Village
Mercer County, Kentucky
collage en plein air by J A Dixon
found paper, gel transfers, tissue, tea bags
on vintage notebook cover, 12.5 x 6 inches
Posted in 1) Available!, Collage, Details, En Plein Air, Landscape | 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 »
Monday, June 15th, 2026
Dry Day on the Fork
Boyle County, Kentucky
collage en plein air by J A Dixon
scrounged paper, litter, gel transfers, tea bags, dried botanicals
on canvas panel, 10 x 8 inches
available for purchase
Posted in 1) Available!, Collage, En Plein Air, J A Dixon, Landscape | No Comments »
Thursday, April 9th, 2026
I’m pleased to announce that the Artists in Residence have been chosen by Kentucky’s Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest and that I was one of nine Honorable Mentions out of 205 worldwide applications.
Even though I didn’t receive a residency for 2026, I’ve been asked to teach a class there in September. My one-day collage workshop will emphasize “painting in papers’” from nature. Congratulations to Marilee Salvator from Bowling Green and the other selected artists!
Here are four of the collage landscapes included in my submission:
Posted in En Plein Air, Honors, J A Dixon, Landscape, Workshops | No Comments »
Wednesday, April 8th, 2026
Isn’t there something about the “godfather
of merz” that transcends mere homage?
Good Ol’ Boy Dada, part 3
collage artifact by J A Dixon
scrounged paper, packaging, litter
on book cover, 10.25 x 8.375 inches
Posted in 1) Available!, Abstraction, Artifacts, Collage, Dada, Good Ol’ Boy Series, Homage, J A Dixon, K Schwitters, Merz | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 31st, 2026
“The holistic quality of craft lies not only in engaging the whole person but also in harmonizing his understanding of himself in the world.”
— Peter Korn
“Well I guess my advice would be: be patient. If you follow your gut and not the advertisements on the side of the bus, everything will turn out as nature intended.”
— Nick Offerman
Plenty of time on the east end of Shaker Village (during past outings) paid off in the studio recently. I decided to complete this one during the final week of my March Exertion. I intend to leave the rough, unfinished edges on this piece. When I was “painting in papers” on location, I could hear the sheep, but they never showed up in my view of their enclosure. Actually, I can still hear them (haha).
As the whole world is forced to swallow “large language models” that have run amok (which nobody really asked for), it is satisfying and gratitude inducing to make something authentic with my own hands at the historic setting of a culture revered for its artisanship.
At Pleasant Hill
Mercer County, Kentucky
collage en plein air by J A Dixon
found paper, gel transfers, tissue, tea bags
on vintage notebook cover, 12.5 x 6 inches
finished during my March Exertion, day 28
Posted in 1) Available!, Collage, Details, En Plein Air, J A Dixon, Landscape, March Exercise | 1 Comment »
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 »
