. FOREWORD
Jeanne Weber Dentzel has always been driven to make art, and her impressive list of accomplish- ments is long. Over her career, she has cut a wide swath of achievement across feature films, theater, and decorative and fine art. Her determination to create began at a very young age. Growing up in Minneapo- lis, Minnesota, Jeanne was always drawing, playing with colors and living in her own fantasy world. As a child of six, she showed her Grandma Myrtle a drawing she had made. When the elder criticized her subject’s hands, Jeanne took on the challenge to learn how to draw them “correctly”—a mission she attributes to fueling her discipline and determination to make art. Her grandmother’s honesty set her on a lifelong path to conquer a very high bar. The effort turned out a technically skilled artist who would go on to create set designs, paint murals in public spaces and homes, and produce fantastical art in her own studio, ignited by her vivid imagination. This book deals with just one fascinating slice of the artist’s vast body of work: collages that incorporate magazine clippings, bits of found detritus, acrylic paint and colored pencil. The images—she has produced some 400 pieces to date in her Santa Barbara studio—are her personal responses to political and social events, private moments of joy and life’s challenges. The title Social Surrealism references her use of symbolism to record her inner life along with her strong sense of wonder. . What is the key to these mysterious collages? It can be what each viewer brings to their own personal response. While some images may seem more obvious and easier to decipher than others, hidden texts and subtle hints invite the viewer to step inside the two-dimensional works and enter a fourth dimension using their own imagination. The collages explore her life, social and cultural
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