Stunning brushwork by Hiller at new Gallery on Avenue

Posted 8/17/18

Jarvis has won numerous first place awards in juried art exhibitions. by Len Lear If you have recently walked past the new Gallery on the Avenue, 8433 Germantown Ave., then you have probably been …

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Stunning brushwork by Hiller at new Gallery on Avenue

Posted

Jarvis has won numerous first place awards in juried art exhibitions.

by Len Lear

If you have recently walked past the new Gallery on the Avenue, 8433 Germantown Ave., then you have probably been captivated by the beautiful paintings of Chestnut Hill artist Judith McCabe Jarvis. The graduate of Springside School (1977) and Temple University’s Tyler School of Art (1981) who told us, “I like to keep my age a mystery,” has won enough awards with her art to fill up an article all on its own.

According to Mark Sullivan, Ph.D, Professor of Art History at Villanova University and a former reviewer for Art Matters, the region’s leading art magazine, “Judith McCabe Jarvis paints in a style that is realistic in the sense that one can recognize the locations she is recording on her canvases, but her brushwork is much more painterly than that of a Howard Pyle or a Wyeth…

“Jarvis’ paintings have won many regional awards in recent years because they remind us of deeply felt, if inexpressible, experiences that we have all had at different times and places in our lives.”

Judy, who grew up in Wyndmoor, wanted to be artist since she was 5 years old. At Springside she “had a wonderful art teacher named Elaine Weinstone, who has since died … My father, a lawyer, painted nocturnes of Broad Street from a window at the Land Title Building in the 1960s. My mother also tried her hand at art, taking classes at Chestnut Hill College. We spent a lot of time at The Barnes Foundation and Philadelphia Museum of Art.”

After graduation from Tyler, Jarvis had “every crappy job under the sun, from brokerage firms to waitressing, selling oriental rugs and painting faces for ‘Peanut Butter,’ a party entertainer and clown. We went to Bar Mitzvahs dressed up and painted David Bowiesque designs on guests’ faces. I had a studio in East Falls during that time.”

In the 1980s Jarvis was painting lots of geometric and cubist pictures in pastels, but she switched over to oils and moved to Chadds Ford, where her work became more representational. A few years ago she built a new studio in Flourtown and began painting many Chestnut Hill area scenes.

“One thing that is really hard,” she said last week, “is pricing my paintings, and I price them on the lower side. I think the art market is growing. A lot of younger people want to support local artists and want stuff for their walls. I am so impressed with my newest flock of collectors. They are brilliant people — law professors, medical professors, high-end lawyers, etc. A barrister from Toronto, Gary Hodder, said my work is thinking man's art.”

“Anna and the Cat” is a fine example of Jarvis’ representational style. In the 1980s, Jarvis was painting lots of geometric and cubist pictures.[/caption]

Lately, Jarvis has been working on commissioned portraits, bottle still-lifes, flowers, ferris wheel paintings (inspired by the Jersey shore) and sail boat and harbor scenes. Her paintings of high-end booze such as Sapphire gin and bourbons are hot in Southport, Connecticut. (Coincidently, Bob Dylan has also painted ferris wheel paintings and is now making bourbon.)

Chris Ward, Chestnut Hill’s most renowned sculptor, and Jarvis have exhibited together in the past, as they are doing at the Gallery on the Avenue. “We think our work complements each other,” Jarvis said, “and I have known Julia Ward (Chris’ wife) for decades. We had kicked the idea around for a pop-up gallery in 2016, but Julia put everything into motion right after Thanksgiving last year, and I jumped on board.”

What is the hardest thing Jarvis has ever done? “Trying to learn Spanish. I think putting an ‘a’ or an ‘o’ on the end of English words makes them Spanish, and Michele Haines (a former foreign language teacher who has worked at the new gallery) rightfully corrected me and now calls me the Spanish lady. She was appalled by my creative Spanish.”

A few years ago I met Judy’s friend, Abbie, who was then 14, a rescue mutt from the Media SPCA, so I asked how she was. “We had to put our dear Abbie to sleep last September,” Judy replied. “It was a very sad day for the Jarvis family. She had guided and protected us for 15 years. My sister has three dogs, Percy, Quincy and Mackie. They come to visit. My favorite is Quincy; she is a tiny Sheltie, very smart and loves to ride around in mail trucks. We have been looking for a new pup from an animal shelter.”

Who are Judy’s favorite artists? “My favorite artists are Fairfield Porter, Edward Hopper and David Hockney. I was thrilled to see Hockney’s retrospective at the Met this January. I love Fairfield Porter’s sunny, bucolic suburban landscapes of New England and its coasts.”

For more information, visit www.judithmccabe.com, or call 215-740-6436. Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com

arts, locallife