Archive for May, 2025
A day well spent at Hoot Owl Holler Farm . . .
Friday, May 30th, 2025 
Back the Holler
collage en plein air by J A Dixon
on vintage canvas panel, 10 x 8 inches
available to collectors
Thursday, May 29th, 2025
Make a “Hop Stop” at CAMP on North Third during this evening’s Band Festival kickoff in downtown Danville! I’ll be greeting art lovers from 4:30 to 7:30pm, inside Central Kentucky’s most distinctive retail environment!
Monday, May 26th, 2025
“It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
— Abraham Lincoln, November 19, 1863
Deep Morning Zephyr
This studio landscape study was inspired by my plein air practice and a recent train trip from California to Illinois via the transcontinental rail route envisioned by President Lincoln. Today’s memorial observance intensifies my gratitude for all the generations of soldiers and seafaring warriors who selflessly sacrificed all they had and all they would ever have to provide those like me the opportunity to pursue my creative calling. You are remembered and honored forever.
A Living Connection
Thursday, May 22nd, 2025“That seems to me the great American danger we’re all in, that we’ll bargain away the experience of being alive for the appearance of it.”
— Mike Nichols
From the time that I began to exhibit collage, people have responded positively to art made from stuff that would otherwise be recycled or thrown away. They like the idea that anything cast off can be repurposed and infused with new meaning and a measure of beauty. Collage is ideally suited to individual response and offers a universal experience. Nearly everyone can understand and relate to cutting and pasting paper.
On first impression, people often think my landscapes are conventional paintings — until they move closer. At the same intimate distance the works were created, viewers find only paper ingredients, fragments of printing, and layers of torn edges. It’s been rewarding for me to witness this sense of discovery, a reaction similar to what I’ve experienced by exploring the potential of paper. This living connection with others doesn’t happen with a digital exchange. It fires my enthusiasm for representational collage as an artistic concentration.
Opposite Old Lick
Sunday, May 18th, 2025 
Opposite Old Lick
collage on stretched canvas by J A Dixon
10 x 10 inches, 2025
private collection
Kaleido-Scraps!
Saturday, May 17th, 2025“No, you never think you’ve made it. To be respected by my peers is the most I could ask for.”
— Freddy Cole
I broke into the collage world twenty years ago and eventually gained some recognition with contemporary practitioners for my fine art approach to the medium, just as social networks were taking hold. My recent emphasis has been in another direction, as those of you who follow this site are fully aware. I still aspire to “make it” in the realm of nonrepresentational collage, but that may not happen for a guy who “paints in papers” as a landscape artist.
I enjoy periodically coming back to the tradition of Merz, and here’s a lyrical piece that I created for tonight’s fundraising auction and random draw. The business of art should involve some community pro bono work, as with all professions. Yes, I’ve pontificated about this before. To help needy nonprofits appreciate the value of creative labor, I maintain this rule of thumb: keep donations modest, infrequent, and local.
Kaleido-Scraps
collage on stretched canvas
24 x 18 inches, in the Merz tradition
This Saturday Afternoon!
Tuesday, May 6th, 2025