PC alumna to show retrospective exhibit at Harper Gallery

A retrospective on 50 years of art produced by a Presbyterian College alumna will be shown this fall in the college's Elizabeth Stone Harper Gallery.

"Impressions," a representative selection of the work of Dr. Jackqueline Truluck Cook Warren, will be held Tuesday, Sept. 5, through Tuesday, Oct. 10.

A 1957 graduate of PC, Warren grew up only a few blocks from her alma mater and was influenced by the college at an early age.

"My association with the college began when my good friend Emma and I roamed the campus with its many attractions, including the library, canteen, tennis courts, open spaces for games, mop racks for swinging, and a track for running," she wrote in her artist statement.

The wife of a PC professor, in fact, was Warren's first art teacher.

"She took me into her kitchen when I was 10 years old to help me paint my first oil painting," she stated. "… that day in Mrs. Anderson's kitchen, I began my lifelong quest for creative expression as a ‘serious' painter."

Warren's work has been shown at the Dallas Museum and the Atelier Gallery in Dallas, Texas; the Atlanta Museum in Atlanta, Ga.; and the Dome Gallery in New York. She has taught art classes and participated in numerous arts organizations, including Upstate Visual Arts and the Artist's Coop in Laurens.

Her work explores a variety of forms, media, and perspectives, she said.

"Usually, I have painted in series exploring a visual concept from a number of perspectives," she stated. "My treatment of form pulls me towards sculpture. But the ‘real me' is a painter. I resolved this by working in multiple canvases in various configurations. At one time, my evolution of form took me into fiberglass sculpture. The piece was quite successful and was shown at the Dallas Museum and selected for their traveling exposition. I spent the next few years painting my way out of a dilemma by limiting my canvas to right angles and flat surfaces. My towers, which are four canvases standing as a column and clusters of squares hung as a diamond reflect my effort to explore the interaction of forms in a variety of ways as a painter without crossing that fine line into sculpture."

Warren said she also has explored form through life drawing, photography and silversmithing and currently is painting on silk to create wearable art.

"From my early efforts to fracture forms within figurative compositions, through exploration of abstract expressionism and into my own evolving style of visual communication, I have enjoyed the satisfaction of discovery," she said. "When a painting ‘makes sense' without a story to tell, communicates without works or even symbols and ‘feels right' as a visual communication, I feel like an ‘artist.' What satisfaction!"

In addition to her degree PC, Warren also holds masters degrees from Union Seminary and the Presbyterian School of Christian Education in Richmond, Va.; and a Ph.D. from the University for Integrative Learning in Rohnert Park, Calif. Her professional career has included service as director of the Atlanta Model Cities Child Development Program, and executive director of the Day Care and Child Development Council of America, the Center for Urban Family Life in Oakland, Calif., and the YWCA of Oakland. She also serves as a consultant - providing research, writing, planning, and fund development for public and private organizations.