Today we’d like to introduce you to Jo Rutledge.
Jo, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My beginnings have always been artistically motivated. I attended art school at University of Texas. But, I am able to say I left the department after my sophomore year without any more art skills. So painting and drawing became a hobby. I worked at Neiman Marcus after graduating and was tapped to attend buyers training. After completing the course, I decided that it was more about math than fashion (I became a mother because I found out math wasn’t involved) and quit. A marriage and a daughter later, I am still not painting and a much involved stay at home mom. It wasn’t until I took an extension oil painting course from my daughter’s school by Big Bend master painter Dennis Blagg, that I began to seriously think about art. And art as a career, I was 58 and a little late to the game. I threw my hat into the western genre. I figured ‘when in Rome, do what the Romans do’. But I KNEW, I would have to take a different spin because so much of the art of the west has the same ‘common expressions’. I decided I would articulate the real deal. Stickers, mangled trash, cow crap, old equipment… yep, it was all fair game. Plus, I added tongue in cheek titles to complete the cowboy humor I see everywhere in this culture. Well, ten years later, apparently, the appeal caught on and I’ve received some notoriety from the different approach. Late bloomer but still blooming.
Has it been a smooth road?
When I picked the western genre, I knew it was already overcrowded with the good, the bad and the ugly. Painting from a different mindset takes what I call ‘early adapters’. They are the clients/observers who can see around the clichés and appreciate something forward thinking. And they are unique and hard to find. I like it to the Impressionist movement. A few patrons got it early on and the rest is history. The challenge is not to cave to the clichés and stay the course. Besides, my runway is getting shorter these days!
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Jo LeMay Rutledge story. Tell us more about the business.
Being a one man show, I have had to wear so(read too) many hats. It’s not just enough to be seen as talented and creative. You have challenges of website management, financial dealings, interface with clients, etc. Recently, I have secured help from my daughter, the art history major. She takes care of a lot of the administrative jobs that took me away from the actual work. I could have trusted her to write this bio… The most rewarding thing about my job is the stories that generate before and/or after the painting. I have had some wild times getting resources for what I am looking to paint. Then, when viewing the art, people tell me that they can actually feel, smell and hear my painted observations… because they’ve been there… and they’ve stepped in it… it sends me back to the easel to recreate that experience again. That’s where clichés go to die.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
Painting realistic work is rather like spitting into the wind these days. While I love contemporary art (and I really do. I swear to my friends that I’m switching to the ‘dark side’ hehe), it certainly remains the ‘soup de jour’ for an instant gratification audience and the love of attention (worthy and unworthy). Often, I refer to myself as an ‘artisan artist’. That will always be a challenge in the current insular power driven art world. I just need my little niche because there is room for everyone.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jolemayrutledge.com
- Facebook: Jo LeMay Rutledge
Image Credit:
Jo LeMay Rutledge
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