bio

Bonnie Jennings Vetterick was born and raised in Chattanooga, TN.  After receiving her BA in visual art from Belhaven University in Jackson, MS, she relocated back home, where she continues to produce her work.  She has since participated in several juried and group shows in Mississippi, Tennessee, Virginia, and South Carolina.

statement

Art requires contemplation, both to create as the artist and experience as the viewer.  My practice forces me to slow down and focus—not to seek immediate results and gratification but to dialogue with each piece in an attempt to understand.  Each piece is often a lesson in patience.

My work is the result of a process of exploratory mark-making with various wet and dry media.  I work with different materials—oil paints, pastels, colored pencils—to experience their given qualities in combination with each other.  I start with an impression or gesture—maybe a note of color or a simple line—that in turn informs each subsequent movement.  This is the beginning of the visual dialogue that comprises my creative process.  Each piece grows through a history of marks—layers of gestures and intuitive reactions—until I feel the conversation has drawn to a close.  Personally, my desire at the conclusion of each piece is to find a place of beauty or visual interest.