Jill Bateman

I fell in love with drawing and painting in college and over the years have sought out artistic knowledge and experience wherever I could get it. I didn’t necessarily set out to become an “artist.” I just know that when I am behind an easel, I’m happier with a sense of my life holding together in a more integrated balanced way.

Exploring working against a grid, enjoying the tension between the organic sensitivity and fluidity of the line as it intersects the more rigid and predictable horizontals and verticals of the grid, I often blind contour into my work, finding that if I can quiet my mind’s need to make something look “right,” my hand and eye can record the honest truth, innately knowing when I am touching the form.

The majority of my work is figurative, as I took it to heart when I was told many years ago that, if I could understand and capture the essence of the anatomy of the human form, all else is contained therein. I am fascinated by the many expressions of the line with its weight, speed, assertiveness, and fragility and am excited by a new synthesis of paint volume and line, again searching for that integration of geometry and dynamic movement, and activation of the surface.

Born and raised in Tennessee, Jill Bateman now lives with her family in Chevy Chase, Maryland, and works in the Washington, DC area. She graduated from the University of Tennessee, Phi Beta Kappa, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in French. She studied art at both the University of Tennessee and the University of California, Los Angeles. She also holds Certificates in Painting and Drawing from the Corcoran College of Art and Design and The Washington Studio School. She has exhibited her work in various locations throughout the Washington, DC area, and her work is held in private collections nationally. She is a member of the Foundry Gallery.