ABOUT JERI A. MARTINEZ

It all begins with a moment.

It not so much the person, its that emotion I see. Its the moment the dancer leaves the ground... under her own power. All that person feels is the music... the beat and I see it. I witness it. That dancer doesn't just land on her feet. she lands with her knees, on this cloud, on the note of her sound. Its the moment this person looked out and in her face she saying so much, yet not a word passes her lips.

That is why I paint... It the exact moment I felt wonderful... I witness this wonder of life and all these colors, the need to responed to it. Its the same as watching the sun set... with its last light, or the way the light hits the reflections in glass, or the power of the dancer, rising to the beat. I paint the color of living.

I then begin to sketch...lost in this shear whiteness with a pencil in my hand. Moving, rushing, trying to replicate those most beautiful moments.

Jeri A. Martinez, painter
Pottawattamie Native American name: Keewit