Jan Lindsay

by Christi Marsico
Tuesday, February 12, 2008 2:49 PM MST

Brightly colored quills, delicate feathers and strung beads that appear to be stitched into tanned leather are really an awe-inspiring illusion created by three-dimensional watercolorist Jan Lindsay.

“It’s just paper and paint, and I just manipulate it,” Lindsay said as she refers to her replicated Native American artifacts, which have been a well-kept secret in Jackson Hole for the past 20 years.

Lindsay returned to her hometown of Casper this past year and has future projects already in process in her studio.

She was introduced to watercolors at Casper College, along with guidance from Stephen Naegle and Lynn Munns, and continued her watercolors with an independent study through the University of Wyoming.

Her expertise as a watercolorist was taken into another level after a visit to Grand Teton National Park’s Colter Bay Indian Arts Museum, where Lindsay was motivated to create, in unique way, what she had seen.

“The work was just so mysterious and wonderful; it just kind of grabbed me by the throat,” Lindsay said about the Native American collection of moccasins, warrior shirts, ghost dance dresses, pipes and medicine bags and other artifacts.

Driven to express her impressions, Lindsay created the replicas by manipulating paper and paint that look authentic.

“When I go to a museum, I take away whatever remains in my head,” Lindsay said.

In taking an artistic signature all her own, her research on Native Americans has become more intensive and progressive as she incorporates the spirit of history into her works.

Intriguing lore

Honoring the first Americans has become her medium, as Native American lore has intrigued Lindsay on many levels.

She is influenced by their philosophy of art and beauty in everything, as well as pairing opposites in composition.

Texture is everything to Lindsay when it comes to engineering these paper pieces. She uses a special ordered press cotton fiber, usually using a 10-yard roll.

“I need that length of paper for my dresses and shirts,” Lindsay said.

With the goal of not using any glue, her process in engineering these paper pieces is all by hand and labor intensive.

As she laces the paper together, she regards it as fabric that has been stained and wetted many times to be formed and shaped into whatever artifact she is thinking of.

“I am really not attached to the pieces when I am through. The challenge is over, and I am on to something else.”

She finds working with metaphors and telling stories through her art to be the favorite part of the process.

Currently, Lindsay is working on a six-piece series titled “Visual Prayers,” which will feature Native American bags of different colors, framed by David Sneesby in reclaimed wood from Wyoming’s prairies.

“The frame and work have a nice marriage, incorporating the feel of an old trading post,” Lindsay noted.

With the first one of the series, Visual Prayer #1 already sold, Lindsay has future pieces in mind that are more furniture oriented.

“I have thought about making a cupboard out of paper that has folded blankets and moccasins in it, giving it a trading post feel,” Lindsay said.

Lindsay explains her ardor for Native American lore is somewhat of a mystery and that she wants to leave it that way.

Her artist statement is encompassed in Chief Seattle’s words of wisdom.

“‘The White Man will never be alone. Let him be just and deal kindly with my People, for the dead are not powerless.’ I responded with paper, paint and integrity in interpretation honoring to the Spirit of the first Americans,” she said.

To contact Lindsay, e-mail her at janlindsay@msn.com.

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