Eukaryotic Occurrence 2010, oil on canvas triptych, 8x30 inches

From Books to Brains: Selected Works 1990-2010

July 6 – August 31, 2010

Opening Reception and Artist Lecture: 5 pm, July 6th

York Public Library, 15 Long Sands Road, York, Maine, 03909

Inspired by a compelling curiosity about the nature of our lives as seen through nostalgic
images in old books, Jill Poyourowʼs practice as an artist for the past two decades has
turned to portrayals of peoples of the earth as well as the food we eat. Going far beyond
the popular adage “you are what you eat,” Poyourow seeks clues to help uncover how
our biology dictates the evolutionary process, our psychology, and our lives. All that we
eat, breathe, feel, think, read, speak, hear, remember/recall, contribute to our behavior
(who we are and who we are becoming).

For the York Public Library, Poyourow will hang a selection of works chosen from
several series including The Cookbook Paintings, The Cooking of Germany and Lands
and Peoples, as well as recent biomorphic abstractions. Also included will be a selection
of embroideries from Pagine Tessili (translated:The Woven Page) that toured libraries of
Italy as part of the First International Fiber Art Biennale.

Informed by the writer/scientists Rachel Carson and Deepak Chopra, the current series
The Natural Progression of Things includes her largest oil painting yet: Water to Land
(85 x 196 inches). In conjunction with the York Public Library show, viewers will have an
opportunity to see the work in progress during an open-studio weekend in August.

Jill Poyourowʼs work has been exhibited locally, nationally and internationally beginning
in 1982 when a selection of color photographs was included in the Tacoma Art
Museumʼs Photography Annuale. Her paintings, embroideries, and works on paper have
been shown at museums and galleries across the United States including Thomas
Solomonʼs Garage, Los Angeles; POST, Los Angeles; the Skirball Cultural Center, Los
Angeles; Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, California; Annika Sundvik Gallery, New
York; OTIS Gallery, Los Angeles; the Armory Center for the Arts, Pasadena, California;
the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockport, Maine and the George Marshall Store
Gallery, York, Maine. In addition to earning a BS from Western Washington University,
she holds a BFA and MFA from California Institute of the Arts. She served as adjunct
faculty at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California from 1995 until 2002.
Jill Poyourow currently lives and works in Cape Neddick, Maine after relocating from
southern California at the end of 2004. Prior to living in California, she spent many years
living and working on an oyster farm in the state of Washington, and before that lived in
southeastern Alaska. She was born in Yonkers, New York.