ARTIST STATEMENT


SAVAGE PERIL: ODE TO OUR EARTH

Torn from our roots
The chaos ensues.

Broken from family,
The surface unravels.

From this revealed,
A new life emerges.

See the next forms
To sustain a new life.

Make art from chaos.
This is your life.


As an abstract painter, I find the goals of artist, writer, painter, mathematician and physicist to be remarkably similar in their quest to perceive and understand other dimensions of reality beyond the visible surface. The methods may appear unconnected, even to come from opposite ends of the spectrum, yet to transcend the visual dimensions familiar to us into the dimensions of deeper time and space holds artists, poets, writer, spiritual seeker, mathematicians and physicists alike. Like the abstract painter, the mathematician and physicist use abstraction to record and decode their perceptions.
Just as the stylized movements of the Indonesian Bali dancers to the gavelon transport the participants to a trance level of consciousness, so the African Dogone tribe mask dances reach for connection to the spiritual world and their ancestors. Shamans and other spiritual healers throughout the world perform drumming rhythms allowing them to journey into other dimensions of the spirit world. All of these cemonially induced changes of consciousness can be likened to the writer and artist’s challenge to commune with their muse, as well as the mathematician and physicist’s quest for understanding other dimensions in Space Time Travel by way of examining Space Time Tunnel or wormholes through the execution of Calculus.
As an abstract painter, I find the similar process of complete abstraction a tool used both with the abstract painter to achieve the presence of another world, and by the mathematician and physicist through the application of calculus to explore Ring Singularity Space Time Travel.
All these seekers refuse to accept the immediately visible world as the total reality and choose instead to look deeper into unknown realities, seeking new dimensions.
The process of pure abstraction forms the construct of both Calculus and Abstract painting, connecting these seemingly opposing methods with the surprisingly similar goals of transcending the life we know and understand.
“Robert Forward, in ‘Indistinguishable from Magic’ (Baen 1995), describes Space Time travel through the Ring Singularity. Closed Timelike Curves can be deformed to pass through any point of the extended SpaceTime. As Forward says, “ . . . by making and opening [Ring Singularities] in orbit around distant stars we can travel from one star system to another by merely popping into the [Ring Singularity] in our solar system and popping out again in another [Ring Singularity] around some distant star system.”
Singularity is the center of a black hole where curvature of spacetime is maximal. In 1989 Paul Davies discovered that a rotating black hole flips from a negative to a positive specific heat when the square of its mass divided by the square of its spin parameter is equal to the golden ratio.
The golden ratio has been a formula of proportions that has held artists captive in their attempt to understand beauty since the time of the earliest Classical Greek artists.
“As Kip Thorne says in ‘Black Holes and Time Warps’ (Norton 1994), quoting Tom Roman, “If one can travel over interstellar distances far faster than light, one can also travel backward in time . . ., so Forward’s Ring Singularity Space Time travel is travel in both Space and Time.”

“Forward also describes SpaceTime travel by SpaceTime Tunnel as proposed by Mike Morris and his teacher Kip Thorne, who call a Space Time Tunnel a Wormhole. As Thorne says,’Einstein’s field equation predicts left to its own devices, a SpaceTime tunnel opens up briefly, and then pinches off and disappears-and its total life span from creation to pinch-off is so short that nothing can travel through it, from mouth to the other . . . the only way to hold the SpaceTime Tunnel open is to thread it with some sort of material that pushes its walls apart. . .such material must have a Negative average energy density, as seen by a light beam traveling through it. . .’
In the movie ‘StarGate, SpaceTime travel was done by Ring Singularity and that liked the StarGate to the Giza Pyramids (Le Studio Canal 1994.)”

“As Jack Sarfatti says: ‘. . .this may be the real meaning of The Whale that swallowed up Jonah and spat him out again.’” (Quotes taken from Finkelstein’s comments about Kerr Newman black holes.)
Sharing a desire for time travel probabably occurs amongst all of us, and certainly we wonder what people are thinking and feeling as close to us as around the globe in Iraq.
As an artist, and an avid reader, I have tried to follow reports given to us about the war events, wondering what has been included as well as what has been left out. Probably this desire to understand what is going on in the world caused me to wish to time travel (briefly) and see the world through the eyes of an Iraqi woman. Thus emerged my totem of myself as an Iraqi woman dressed in a burke.
Many of the other paintings were inspired by the closest thing I get to time travel: reading the New York Times and 30 years of National Geographic Magazine. A friend of ours, Craig Smith, a reporter for the New York Times, covered both the war in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq, as well as the bombings in Turkey and Spain.
In the evening, I would receive his email saying that he was having a lovely breakfast of olives and goat cheese as he overlooked the beautiful Bosporus, and then the next morning I would wake up to see CNN’s coverage of the devastation of the first two bombs that went off in Istanbul. The next morning I would see his story, along with photographs he had taken of pools of blood left in the streets of Istanbul.
As events unfold throughout the world, I try to travel to all the various parts of the globe in my imagination and to reach some understanding. Time Travel for me still exists in the Tunnel of my own “Imagineering.”(A word coined by the late Walt Disney expressing the congruence of engineering and imagination.) and the construction of the resulting art pieces you see.

JANIS ADRIAN KIRSTEIN RESUME
FINE ARTIST
U.S.A.
http://home.bellsouth.net/p/s/community.dll?ep=16&groupid=285750&ck=
janiskir@bellsouth.net

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
ZEPHYR GALLERY. Louisville, KY. June, 2008.
ZEPHYR GALLERY. Louisville, KY. June, 2004.
JOHN HARRIMAN GALLERY, PERUVIAN BRITISH CULTURAL CENTER. Lima, Peru. August 2002.
ZEPHYR GALLERY. Louisville, KY. June 2002.
ZEPHYR GALLERY. Louisville, KY. 2000.
ANNE WRIGHT WILSON ART GALLERY. Georgetown College. Georgetown, KY. 1997. “Fusion.”
MCGRATH GALLERY. Bellarmine University. Louisville, KY. 1994. “After the Storm.”
SWANSON CRALLE GALLERY. Louisville, KY. 1989.
ARTSWATCH. Louisville, KY. 1988. “From the Night,”
FLOYD COUNTY ART MUSEUM. Floyd County, IN. 1978.

AWARDS & HONORS
COMPETITION WINNER. 1ST INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF NANO ART. 2007. Exhibition held at the Kotka Photographic Centre, Kotka, Finland. One of four artists from the United States chosen.
2000 OUTSTANDING INTELLECTUALS OF THE 21ST CENTURY. International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, England. 2004-2005.
WHO'S WHO OF AMERICAN ARTISTS.2002- 2005. Marquis Who's Who, New Providence, NJ.
21ST CENTURY AWARD FOR ACHIEVEMENT. 2004-2005. The International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, England.
WHO'S WHO OF AMERICAN TEACHERS. 2004-2005. Marquis Who's Who.
WHO'S WHO OF AMERICAN WOMEN. 2004-2005. Marquis Who's Who.
WHO’S WHO OF INTERNATIONAL POETS.Owing Mills, MD. 2006.
INTERNATIONAL HIGH IQ SOCIETY. NY., NY. 2003-lifetime membership.
SIGNATURE ABSTRACT CATEGORY WINNER, DAILY AWARDS.COM INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION. 6/22/06.
CATEGORY WINNER, DAILY AWARDS.COM., INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION. 4/6/06.
DIALOGUE MAGAZINE COVER CONTEST. HONORABLE MENTION. Columbus, Ohio. Feb. 2003.
PURCHASE AWARD. DIGITAL ART COMPETITIVE EXHIBIT. Kentucky State University. Juror: C.J. Pressma. 2002.
KENTUCKY GOVENOR'S ARTIST'S FELLOWSHIP AL SMITH AWARD. Sponsored by the Kentucky Arts Council with funds from the National Endowment for the Arts 2000and 1983.
VERMONT STUDIO CENTER. Johnson, Vermont. Summer, 2001.
ALL ACADEMIC AWARD. 2001, awarded by the State Journal Newspaper in Frankfort, KY. Each teacher chosen by one of the top 4 academic students at Western Hills High School as a teacher who was the most positive influence in their educational history.
WHO'S WHO IN AMERICAN ART. 2001, Marquis Who's Who .
INTERNATIONAL BIOGRAPHICAL CENTRE LISTING. Cambridge, England. '95-'98. Biographical reference.
GOVENOR'S SCHOLARS FACULTY. Danville, KY. 1994-'97.
ARTS ADVOCATE AND MENTOR AWARD, GOVENOR'S SCHOOL FOR THE ARTS. Louisville, KY. 1994.
ALL ACADEMIC TEACHER AWARD. Franklin County, KY. 1994.
ELEANOR ROOSEVELT AWARD FOR COMMUNITY SERVICE. Awarded for performance as Chair for the Education Foundation, Louisville Chapter, American Association of University Women. 1991.
FELLOWSHIP. Kentucky Foundation for Women. 1987.
PURCHASE AWARD. Eight State Annual Graphics, J.B. Speed Art Museum. Juror: Brooke Alexander, Director, Brooke Alexander Gallery, New York City.
MERIT AWARD. Water Tower Annual Exhibit. Juror: Jackie Winsor, New York City Sculptor. 1983.
PURCHASE AWARD. East Coast College Invitational. Norfolk State University, VA. 1981.
ART CRITIC, COURIER-JOURNAL NEWSPAPER. Louisville, KY. 1979.


SELECTED INVITATIONAL & GROUP EXHIBITIONS
20TH ANNIVERSARY ZEPHYR COOPERATIVE GALLERY MEMBER SHOW INVITATIONAL, 2007. Louisville, Kentucky.
1ST INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF NANO ART 2007. Competition winner. Kotka Photographic Centre, Kotka, Finland.
NANO ART INTERNATIONAL ON LINE COMPETITION 2007. Use of digital and electron microscope photography.
INTERNATIONAL ARTIST INVITATIONAL EXHIBITION. Kaza Gallery, Tokyo, Japan. 2005.
”KENTUCKY WATER,” 2005. Kentucky Folk Art Center , Morehead, KY.
“THREE STATE INVITATIONAL POLITICAL ART EXHIBITION.” 2004. Glassworks, Louisville, KY.
“ALTERNATIVE VIEWS: APPROACHES TO ABSTRACTION.” INVITATIONAL, ALLEN R. HITE INSTITUTE, UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE, KY. 2004
INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY EXHIBITON 2004. Greeley Square Gallery, N.Y., N.Y.
HASSELBLAD INTERNATIONAL PHOTO COMPETITION 2004. Linz, Austria.
2004 NATIONAL JURIED PHOTO COMPETITION. “THROUGH A LENS--URBAN LANDSCAPE.” The Coastal Arts League. Half Moon Bay, California. Juror: Photographer Richard Newman.
JOHN HARRIMAN GALLERY, PERUVIAN BRITISH CULTURAL CENTER. Lima, Peru. August 2002. “Artistas del Vermont Studio Center en Lima.”
DIALOGUE MAGAZINE COVER CONTEST EXHIBITION. Columbus, Ohio. Acme Art Company. Feb. 2003.
DIGITAL ART 2002, COMPETITIVE EXHIBITION. PURCHASE AWARD. Kentucky State University. Frankfort, KY. Juror: C.J. Pressma.2003.
2000 OHIO ANNUAL ART EXHIBITION. Carnegie Center for Art and History, New Albany, IN.
ARTS ON MAIN EXHIBITION. Juried art exhibit, Shelbyville, KY. Juror: Leah Stoddard, Assistant Curator and Registrar at the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati, OH. 1998.
KENTUCKY FOUNDATION FOR WOMEN INVITATIONAL. Ten Year Retrospective. Eagle Gallery, Murray State University, Murray, KY. 1995.
17TH ANNUAL FINE ARTS COMPETITIVE. Arts Consortium of Cincinnati, OH. Juror: Beryl J. Wright, Associate Curator of Exhibitions, Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art. 1993.
KENTUCKY SOUTH CAROLINA EXCHANGE. South Carolina State Museum, Columbia, S.C. 1992.
INTERNATIONAL INVITATIONAL EXHIBITION OF AMERICAN ARTISTS. ASSEMBLAGE AND COLLAGE. Dongnang Gallery, Seoul, South Korea, with artists such as Robert Motherwell and Chuck Close. 1988.
INTERNATIONAL JURIED ART COMPETITION. Mussavi Art Center, New York City. Jurors: Holly Solomon, Donald Kuspit, Art Critic, “Art in America,” Barbara Toll, Louis and Susan Meisel.
MID AMERICA BIENNIAL NATIONAL ART EXHIBITION. Juror: Thomas M. Messer, Dirctor, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City. Owensboro Museum of Fine Art, KY.
J.B. SPEED ART MUSEUM COMPETITIVE EXHIBITION. Juror: Abram Lerner, Director Emeritus of the Hirshorn Museum, Washington, D.C.
AMERICAN ANNUAL WORKS ON PAPER EXHIBITION. Zaner Gallery, Rochester, New York. Juror: Andre Emmerich of Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York City.
EIGHT STATE ANNUAL GRAPHICS COMPETITIVE EXHIBITION. J.B. Speed Art Museum, Louisville, KY. Juror: Brooke Alexander of Brooke Alexander Gallery, New York City.
WATER TOWER ANNUAL EXHIBITION.Louisville Visual Art Association, KY. Juror: Janet Flint, The Hirsch Adler Gallery, New York City.
WHITEWATER VALLEY ANNUAL PAINTING COMPETITIVE EXHIBITION. Juror: Ned Rifkin, Assistant Director/Curator, The New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York City.
FIRST ANNUAL ALL KENTUCKY EXHIBITION. Juror: Iris Cohen, Director of Contemporary Art, The Hammer Galleries, New York City. Purchase Award.
WATER TOWER ANNUAL EXHIBITION. Louisville Visual Art Association. Juror: Robert Reed, Chairman Undergratuate Art Department, Yale University.
SOUTHEAST PAINTING COMPETITIVE EXHIBITION. Fine Arts Center, Bellair, FL. Juror: Miriam Schapiro, Painter, New York City.
KENTUCKY ARTISTS' EXHIBITION. James Hunt Barker Gallery, New York City. Sponsored by Mr. and Mrs. C. Vanderbilt Whitney.
WATERCOLOR U.S.A. NATIONAL PAINTING COMPETITIVE EXHIBITION. Springfield Art Museum, MO. Juror: William Struve, Director Frumkin and Struve Gallery in New York City.
MID STATES INVITATIONAL EXHIBITION. Evansville Museum of Art, IN. Juror: Horance Jansen, Art Historian.
LA GRANGE NATIONAL PAINTING EXHIBITION. Juror: Ted Potter, Director, Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art.
EMERGING KENTUCKY ARTISTS EXHIBITION. Juror: Franklin Page, Director J.B. Speed Museum. Louisville, KY.
CAPITAL ART EXHIBITION. Washington, D.C. Juror: Sam Gilliam, Painter, Washington, D.C.
W & J NATIONAL PAINTING EXHIBITION. Washington and Jefferson College, PA. Juror: Peter Plagens and Fred Spratt, Painters.
NATIONAL APERTURE 85. Associated Artists' Gallery, Winston Salem, N.C. Jurors: Cornell Capa, Executive Director of International Center for Photography in New York City, and Rob Hernandez, Photography Editor, National Geographic Magazine, Washington, D.C.
TERRANCE GALLERY NATIONAL EXHIBITION. Hudson, N.Y.
ROCKFORD INTERNATIONAL PRINT AND DRAWING EXHIBITION. Rockford, IL.
EAST COAST ART INVITATIONAL. Norfolk State University, VA. Purchase Award.
VERMILLION NATIONAL PRINT AND DRAWING SHOW. ND.
COLLECTIVE CONTRASTS EXHIBITION. Zephyr Gallery, Louisville, KY. Kentucky Womens' Foundation Grant Recipients.
EIGHT STATE SCULPTURE EXHIBITION. J.B. Speed Art Museum, KY.


SELECTED COLLECTIONS
PUBLIC RADIO PARTNERSHIPS. Louisville, KY.
COLDWELL FINANCIAL. Louisville, KY.
CAPITAL PLAZA HOTEL. Frankfort, KY.
NORFOLK STATE UNIVERSITY MUSEUM. Norfolk , VA.
TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY.
I.C.H. CORPORATION. Louisville, KY.
BROWN, TODD AND HEYBURN LAW FIRM. Providian Building, Louisvillle, KY.
SIGFRIED, FESSEL AND MOLLER ADVERTISING. Louisville, KY.
TISCHNOR INTERIOR DESIGN. Louisville, KY.
OLD NATIONAL BANK. Louisville, KY.
FARMERS BANK. Louisville, KY.
TACHAU, MADDOX HOVIOUS & DICKENS LAW FIRM. Louisville, KY.
WYATT, TARRANT AND COMBS LAW FIRM. Louisville, KY.


SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Feder, Barnaby J. “ The Art Of Nanotech.” NEW YORK TIMES. Accompanying slideshow with Nanoart by Janis Kirstein included. January 25, 2008. Technology Section.
Aarah Gividen, "Art and Science, Up Close and Personal." THE STATE JOURNAL. Frankfort, Kentucky. p. 1.April 27, 2007.
Ahrens, Paula. “Interview: Three Artists, A discussion of the Visual Arts in Their Lives and in Louisville.” LOUISVILLE DINING, SHOPPING AND ENTERTAINMENT.Kentucky. P. 10. September, 2004.
Munoz, Julian. “El Arte Que Alento La Esperanza, Tras El 11 5.” ARTE Y NATURALEZA. Madrid, Spain. May 18,2004.
“Plastico Contacto.” CARETAS MAGAZINE ILUSTRACION PERUANA. P, 75. Lima, Peru. August 15, 2002.
“En el Britanico: Arte desde el Vermont Studio Center.” P. 20. EXPRESO NEWSPAPER. Lima, Peru. August 9, 2002.
“Miguel Velit y Janis Kirstein en el Centro Cultural Britanico Arte de Vermont Studio Center.” P. 24. LA REPUBLICA NEWSPAPER. Lima, Peru.August 17, 2002.
Martin Vargas. “La Angustia y el a Asombro.” EL PERVANO NEWSPAPER. Lima, Peru. August 15, 2002.
Dominick, Wayne. “'Digital Art 2002' Opens at KSU.” THE STATE JOURNAL. Frankfort, KY. April 21, 2002.
Peterson, Karen S. "Relationship Respite." USA TODAY. July 19,2000. Article includes my painting session at the Vermont Studio Center.
Brown, Nichole. “Looks Like Rain.” LEO NEWSPAPER. September 14, 1994.
Heilenman, Diane. “McGrath Gallery.” COURIER JOURNAL NEWSPAPER. September, 1994.
Meloy, Maggie. “Artswatch.” DIALOGUE MAGAZINE. March/April 1989, p.33.
Hines, Jane. “Presbyterians in the Arts.” PRESBYTERIAN VOICE. December 1988, p. 8.
THE AMERICAN VOICE. 1986 Winter Quarterly, Kentucky Foundation for Women. Louisville, KY. Charcoal Drawings.

EDUCATION
MASTER OF FINE ARTS UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS. AMHERST. 1981.
BACHELOR OF ARTS UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE, KY. 1977.
INDIANA UNIVERSITY, BLOOMINGTON. 1975.


TEACHING EXPERIENCE
KENTUCKY STATE UNIVERSITY. 2002-2003. Art Appreciation, Photoshop and Advanced Drawing. Frankfort, KY.
UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE. 2001. 2-D Design and Photoshop. Louisville, KY.
WESTERN HILLS HIGH SCHOOL 1989- PRESENT.
GOVENOR'S SCHOLARS PROGRAM 1995-'98.
OLDHAM COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL 1987-'89.
UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE 2002001, TEACHING TWO-DIMENSIONAL DESIGN. 1985-'89 CLASSES TAUGHT: FOUNDATION COLOR, ADVANCED PAINTING, TWO-DIMENSIONAL DESIGN.
INDIANA UNIVERSITY 1984-'85 NEW ALBANY, IN. CLASSES TAUGHT: BEGINNING DRAWING.
UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS 1979-'81. AMHERST, MA. CLASSES TAUGHT: BEGINNING DRAWING