Janet Eager
Krueger back to
artists page
Janet
grew up in San Antonio and attended
Alamo Heights High School. She
obtained her BFA in art history from
the University of Texas at Austin in
1975, and her MFA in painting from
UTSA in 1998.
She is an Associate Professor of Art
at Texas A&M International
University in Laredo, Texas.
She was recently awarded
the Texas
State Artist 2D, 2008.
About
the current exhibit,
"On the
Trail"
‘Trail’ is an interesting word. It
can mean falling behind or moving
ahead, or to be in pursuit of. It is
a path through the countryside, or a
sequence of marks left by somebody
or something moving on a surface.
I’ve been
thirty years on the trail – making
marks on a surface in pursuit of
South Texas. If I am falling behind,
then it’s because of this square peg
that I’ve been trying to fit through
the round hole that’s the problem.
It’s a narrative artist’s quandary:
How do you attach contemporary
meaning to a life and culture that
hardly changes from one century to
the next? My solutions are to look
for Frost’s road not taken, to rein
in nostalgia, and redirect the
viewer’s expectations.
I believe it’s
possible to appreciate the abstract
potential in bovine markings and
colors – the soft thud of tawny,
umber and sienna, with accents of
white and as well, to take joy in
the harmonic relationship between
separate bands of ultramarine and
ochre in the absence of green. In a
land that so rarely sees rain, those
earth and sky colors marry and
produce strange olivaceous
offspring.
Finally,
consider the trail ride. This
strictly 20th century, democratic
response to the sport of kings is
far from the hot-blooded
stratosphere of the show jumping
set, or the air-conditioned
polo-ponies’ trailers. If Joe the
Plumber rides a horse, this is where
you’ll find him on a Saturday
afternoon. All horseflesh imaginable
rubbing elbows so to speak -- nags,
thoroughbreds and ponies of all
colors: paints, roans, palominos,
bays and sorrels. The riders -- men,
women and children, come in all
classes and customs: professionals
and clerks, drug-store and working
cowboys, princesses and paupers –
everyone mounts up for a meet-up
with an equestrian thread and all
the interconnectivity one might hope
for at the wireless cafe.
Falling behind
or moving ahead, I guess I’ll just
mosey on down the trail.
Her work is in many private and
several corporate collections,
including:
Laredo National Bank
Texas A&M International University
The University of Texas at San
Antonio
USAA
USAA Life
Valero Energy
Kronkosky Charitable Foundation
The AT&T Center
Janet is also a founder and
President of the Board of Directors
of the non-profit organization Hecho
en Encinal. This organization,
located in Encinal, Texas is
dedicated to bringing arts and
humanities programming and projects
to rural South Texas.
She is married to rancher, George
Krueger, also of San Antonio and an
Alamo Heights alum. She and George
have lived on his family's ranch
near Encinal, Texas for twenty-six
years. Their two children, Will and
Kate attend the University of Texas
at Austin.
"Rural life is increasingly
considered an irrelevant blip on the
American cultural screen. The
agricultural perspective is rejected
as a subject by contemporary artists
as sentimental romanticism or
reinvented as moribund
iconographical markers in a
post-modern surrealism. But for
those who still live on the land, a
daily personal relationship with
nature is a concrete reality that
goes beyond the understanding of the
weekend environmental tourist.
Indeed, environmental tourism and
recreation are for most people the
only remaining means of interpreting
nature. Ironically these new routes
to "nature" have come to serve as
important sources of income for the
struggling family farm and ranch."
"My work reflects a marriage not only
in the conventional sense, between
husband and wife, but a commitment
to the land and to the life as well.
Ranching and raising a family in
South Texas is no picnic at
Enchanted Rock. It is not a walk
down a discreetly graveled path in
the "primitive" area of some state
park. It is the long haul down an
unpaved road, the drought, the flood
and the isolation. It encompasses
all the characteristics which modern
society mourns as lost:
responsibility, commitment, wonder,
and peace of mind."
"I like to think of myself as an
interpreter between two cultures: a
representative of a remnant society
that still exists within the larger
urban clamor of the American scene.
Lately my work has taken a turn for
the literary. Suddenly, every thing
I see seems to have a certain
mythological resonance. I believe it
is an appropriate way to take a new
look at the old myth that is Texas
ranch life."
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Cow Series:

Cows and Calves
oil on poly, 54x48, inches

Dusty Trail
oil on poly, 48 x 54 inches

Glossies
oil on poly, 40x60 inches

White Cow
oil on poly, 30x55 inches
Trailride Series:

Big Paint
oil on poly, 40 x 60 inches

Trailride 1
oil on poly, 32x48 inches

Trailride 2
oil on poly, 32x48 inches

Trailride 3
oil on poly, 32x48 inches

Trailride 4
oil on poly, 32x48 inches |