Jeanne Drevas

Jeanne exhibited with us at Smith Farm Center and NIH last year. She'll have a big one-person show at the USBG in March of 2009. We are really looking forward to it!

By Kevin H. Adams/Special to the Rappahannock News Source: Rappahannock News WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 9 2008

With the onset of winter, the greens of summer and the brilliant colors of fall are memories. But with Jeanne Drevas’ inaugural installation at the Six Pack Gallery’s new solo artist space, we are given the opportunity to appreciate the richness in color, smell, and texture of nature at it fullest.The piece, entitled "Ovoid," is a singular, 12x16', oval-shaped bowl. Suspended from the ceiling, it floats inches off the floor. "Ovoid" is best appreciated by sitting or lying on the floor (pillows provided).Jeanne hopes that guests to the gallery will want to sit and meditate, and not judge, but enjoy seeing and being in the room with the ovoid. Jeanne challenged herself to make as "large and massive" a piece as possible for the space. With this goal, the installation required a great deal of pre-planning and the help of seven volunteers, including Jeanne’s sister Nina (who has assisted with almost every Drevas installation) and her husband Carl. Jeanne also had the help of a Wakefield student, Jon Henry. "It was so great to have someone so young helping," said Drevas who noted that Henry has crafted his own cardboard installations. Using split bamboo, fine mesh netting, plastic ties, loblolly pine needles and gravity, the Ovoid curves away from you from every vantage point. Seeing light dissipate down the length of millions of pine needles is both stunning and magical. Jeanne Drevas has lived in the mountains of Rappahannock County since1972. Her life’s work has been her house, which she built using trees reaching through and supporting the frame, rush ceilings, and bamboo walls. She started out as a potter, and has danced with Sally Nash’s Last Minute Wood Company. Jeanne now feels at home here, after traveling and studying in Switzerland and Thailand."My work honors the cycles of birth, death, decay, and renewal. Ovoid is meant to return to the earth after the two months on display,"Drevas said. Gallery goers will be met by the aromatic smell of a forest floor or pine grove. "I have used loblolly pine needles because they are longer than white pine, and it was a loblolly grove that had the least debris from other trees. I have also learned a lot about working with bamboo on this project for the inner structure. I feel I have found myself with this piece."Coming to see Drevas's show will not only give you a visual and ethereal treat, but you can see the new look as the Six-Pack Gallery,which includes six members, is now housed in the first two front rooms as you enter The Packing Shed Gallery.The back room is now designated for solo shows, currently Amissville's Jack Frazier, is showing there. When you visit this new solo artist space and this installation, you will see the grand commitment that Jeanne Drevas gives to her art. Her creative spirit will fill your senses while lying or sitting with "Ovoid." The Six Pack Gallery is open 12:30 – 7 p.m. Thursday thru Sunday. An opening reception with the artist takes place Sunday, January 20 from 2-6 p.m.For information, phone (540) 675-3410