Rainbow Waves
On display in the hallway of Central Bank of Boone County in downtown Columbia
January 6 - February 17, 2024
Artist Statement
"You can't stop the waves, but you can learn to surf." - Jon Kabat-Zinn
If recent years have taught us anything, it’s that life never stops sending wave after wave of challenges our way. We have a choice to make: We can develop the resilience needed to learn to manage those waves, or we can complain about them and let them sweep us out to sea where the challenges only multiply.
I’ve chosen to pair the wave motif with a rainbow of colors because to me they represent the joy that is our reward for persevering through dark and stormy times. Again, we have a choice: We can wait to see if we’re lucky enough to spot a rainbow in the sky after a storm, or we can create our own with prisms, carefully placed sprays of water, or intentional curation of our surroundings.
This show invites the viewer to focus on the good times and recognize the growth that comes with facing our challenges head-on. If we can do those things—face our challenges and follow our joy—we may just find the metaphorical pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
Artist Bio
Jamie Scheppers finds joy in exploring color and texture across multiple mediums. Her paintings are primarily encaustic, though she enjoys exploring other mediums and techniques in hopes of finding new ways to express a sense of carefree and incite curiosity. Though her work may span mediums, she hopes that the playfulness of her bright colors will unite her pieces and help others find ways to be more childlike in their daily lives.
To say Jamie is self-taught would be a stretch. Though she does not have any formal art training, she has taken a few workshops and online courses and is continually learning from other artists. Her first experience with encaustic was at a one-day workshop taught in 2016 by Elise Rugalo at Orr Street Studios in Columbia, MO. She also has closely followed Alicia Tormey and has honed her skills by following along with her online courses.
More recently, since encaustic can be a time-consuming and expensive medium to work in, she began making watercolor doodles to scratch the art itch. For Christmas 2020, she decided to turn some of those doodles into necklaces. And thus began her dive into selling watercolor jewelry.
Now, Jamie splits her time between those two primary mediums, but don’t be surprised if her creative explorations lead her work to evolve into new areas!
