Virtual Art Tour

Jon Cournoyer, Native American, born 1975

Polluted Youth

"I am a 25-year old artist who is currently living in a dusty adobe near Old Town in Albuquerque," wrote former Sarasota, FL resident Jon Cournoyer for his biographical sketch. "I drive a 1988 Toyota 4-Runner that, although it passed the emissions test with flying colors, gets around 12 miles a gallon on a good day and isn't very environmentally friendly. Yet living out here in the desert has surely made me more conscious and respectful of the environment and my surroundings, and seems to affect many aspects of my life."

"For example, the landscape and, most specifically, the dirt that covers my car on a daily basis has made it's way into my artwork, both physically and theoretically. I work on these pieces in my 'studio,' which is actually an old chicken coop. Although structurally it has seen better days, I have put it to good use in helping me produce paintings. The cracks in the walls let in the environment, whether flying soil or pouring rain, and cover almost everything that lay inside. It has become a ritual before painting to dust off the layer of dirt from each canvas that has accumulated during the night. Although this sounds like an unpleasant situation to work in, it really coincides with the themes I try to explore in art."

"These elements are found in many of the ideas of the paintings, whether it is dirt mixing with machinery or covering up bones from generations before. I am drawn towards history, geology and the generations or layers that it took for us to be here, and visually my paintings are built up with objects and piles of paint to help express this. I tend to think that this interest stems from my oddly mixed background. My father is Lakota Sioux and was born and raised, mostly on the back of a horse, in the quiet hills of the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota. His side of the family has and still resides there for as far back as we can trace. My mother comes from a family of fearless sailors and circus performers settled on the coast of Sarasota and who either traveled with the Ringling Circus or sailed across the sea to Europe or Africa. It's this mixing of unbalanced sides, interests in the past, nature versus technology, religion, and social and artistic movements that influence not only my paintings, but the mediums of film and music that I delve into as well. Within these areas I try to come up with a balanced view, a way of addressing the pros and cons, and some sort of understanding of things through art."

"When I am not painting or filling my truck with gasoline, I work in the cowboy town of Belen, NM. Here I am the assistant to world renowned artist Judy Chicago, who is best known for her monumental installation, The Dinner Party."

The flier for his spring 1998 one-man show at the Red Cloud Indian Arts Gallery in St. Petersburg, FL, explains, "Jon graduated from St. Leo College (St. Leo, FL) in 1997 with a degree in fine arts. He has received numerous scholarships and awards from organizations including the Selby Foundation, the American Indian Arts Council and the Native American Scholarship Fund. Jon was also the recipient of a Fine Arts of Sarasota Scholarship for four consecutive years . . . ." His work has also been shown at The American Stage in St. Petersburg.