Artist Statement

I am a watercolor artist who uses the creative process and watercolor medium to create unique worlds and people to express a mood/feeling in the viewer’s mind. I have ALWAYS loved art – looking at it, making it and watching other people make objects or paintings. I was not encouraged at any time by my family to pursue art, but I took art classes in high school when I could fit them into my academic classes. I took many classes in a wide variety of art and craft processes. I loved painting and pottery more than many others. I was very fortunate to become an elementary art teacher upon graduation and loved that career- until it no longer fulfilled my life.

At that time, I was accepted into an art therapy internship program which changed my life. I pursued graduate work in painting, pottery and creative arts therapy during 10 yrs post graduate. After part time work, I pursued a dream and operated a full time pottery business from my home while my children were young. It was a most creative and wonderful time. After becoming divorced and a single parent, it became necessary for me to obtain a full time career and worked in long term care until I retired in 2010. I have been able to pursue my interest in watercolor painting through many classes, videos, clubs and competitions. Most important of all is that I now have the time to paint – for a painter MUST paint. My favorite subjects are trees and forests in various seasonal visual representations. Old photographs also intrigue me as I reinvent the subject through color, texture and abstracted shape. I am process oriented – I frequently begin a painting – with a simplified drawing or without a drawing or subject and go on a creative journey – exploring the media, water, colors, wetting, spraying, salting, creating something new – which is only finished when it feels right. It can take a day or it can take months until I reach that place of satisfaction through trial and error. I frequently complete a painting and I have no idea how I got there and will never be able to repeat the process again. Each one is unique. Painting pulls my soul and spirit from inside – to the visual experience of an image on paper. My portraits are never really portraits- which tend to portray an idolized public image. Rather, there is a hidden truth- not necessarily pretty, to be seen in the visual expression of a human being, with feelings, below the surface.

Biography

June Fisher-Markowitz is native to New Jersey and lives with her current husband in Wayne. June has always had an interest in art and took classes in high school when they fit into her academic schedule. She was accepted into the Visual Arts program at William Paterson College with a very humble portfolio, and took classes in various media, including painting and pottery, which she was drawn to above all else. She graduated in 1970 with a minor in Art Education, which started her on her career path in teaching. Once her children were school age, she quit her job in education and began a pottery business, where she developed a unique style of decorating that incorporated her love of painting with working with clay. Once she retired from her full-time healthcare career, June dedicated herself to working with watercolors, taking numerous courses and entering her art in shows throughout northern NJ

2022 New Brunswick Art Salon, Watercolor and Mixed Media “After the Charm: In the Name of Autumn”

Education

1970 B.A. in Visual Arts, Minor in Art Education, William Paterson University

Exhibitions

  • 2022 Group shows at ART@1275 Gallery, Fairfield, NJ
  • 2022 Group shows at Studio Montclair
  • 2020 Solo shows at Wayne Public Library
  • 2019 Group shows at New Jersey Art Association
  • 2018 Solo shows at Art League of the Chanthams
  • 2017 Group shows at Studio Montclair
  • 2016 Solo shows at Wayne Public Library
  • 2016 Group shows at Garden State Watercolor Society
  • 2016 Group shows at New Jersey Watercolor Society
  • 2012 Group shows with Passaic County Senior Exhibits

Awards

  • 2022 Essex Watercolor Club, Anna’s Loss 2022 New Jersey Art Association, Breakers
  • 2022 New Jersey Watercolor Society Associates’ Show, Anna’s Loss 2021 Essex Watercolor Club, Woodland Spirits
  • 2021 New Jersey Art Association, The New Baby 2020 Essex Watercolor Club, Pretty Little Dutch Girls
  • 2020 New Jersey Watercolor Society Juried Entry, Pretty Little Dutch Girls 2018 Essex Watercolor Club, Je Suis Soixant Neuf
  • New Jersey Watercolor Society Juried Entry, Les Madames De Fauve Essex Watercolor Club Big Fish, Little Fish, Best in Show
  • 2016 Passaic County Senior Show, Way to Go Linda, Best in Show Passaic County Senior Show, The Outsider, Best in Show
  • 2013 Essex Watercolor Club, The Ladies Society, Belgian Coffee 2012 Passaic County Senior Show, Ready for Lunch
  • 2011 Essex Watercolor Club, Which One

Artist Contact: jfish4601@gmail.com