B. J. White

B. J. White is a recognized contemporary artist whose paintings, collages, and sculptures have been extensively shown in solo, jurored, and invitational exhibitions across the United States. Her works are held in private and corporate collections all over the world. 

Frequently published, B.J.'s work has been reproduced in several books including: Collage Techniques: A Guide for Artists and Illustrators, Expressive Drawings, A Schematic Approach, and The Complete Guide to Watercolor. Her work has also appeared in several periodicals including The New York Art Review. She was the cover artist for Art Gallery. Her biography has been included in Who's Who in American Art.

B.J.'s work is based on her emotional response to written and/or spoken language as it relates to social, political or environmental issues. The complexity of these issues is translated by the multiple layering of color, images, and textures. The repetitive shapes or marks, which are so prevalent in her work, represent the staccato rhythm of life and the multiplicity and synchronicity of experiences. 

A native Oklahoman, B. J. earned her M.F.A. at the University of Oklahoma. She lives with her family and animals near White Prairie Farm north of Edmond, Oklahoma and creates in a studio adjacent to the farm.


THE APOSTLE SERIES
By B.J. White

The discovery of a discarded heap of religious books, including torn and defaced Christian Bibles, in an old military warehouse was the catalyst for this series. Books thrown into a pike, stacked in a column, lined up on a shelf serve as a vehicle for the exploration of color, shape, and texture. Named Apostle series not because of the original twelve men chosen by Christ, but among the definitions of the word apostle is the "advocate of a belief", one who will not waver or be swayed. This definition extends to include the many political, social, and environmental organizations such as the National Rifle Association, Sierra Club, The Christian Coalition, Pro-Choice, Right to Life, Defenders of Wildlife, branches of the Federal and State Governments, etc. These organizations and individuals that are their spokespersons evoke my emotional responses to their particular beliefs.

The image used in this series is a rectangular form like the edge of a book on a shelf or, as seen in nature, the trunk of a tree. In nature, the shape is repeated randomly in a staccato rhythm (organic growth). When man repeats the shape, it is in a static, measured manner in order to set boundaries or limits or to enclose (a picket fence, a row of telephone poles, siding on a house). The repetition of a shape or mark has always been an important element in my work. It sets a pulse, a rhythm, a constant, a life force. The layering of color represents a multiplicity of differences and experiences.

The Apostle Series has come to represent the struggle of man and man, of man and the environment, of progress or profit and the natural course of nature.