Jean Synodinos is an emerging self-taught abstract artist who works with acrylics, textures, glazes, resin, and concrete. Since 2016, her work has explored the perfect imperfection of nature, as well as the lines imposed upon nature by people. In 2020, as a consequence of our collective isolation, she began a new series entitled "Lockdown Windows" in which finished landscapes and cityscapes are encased in hand-fashioned window frames; resin is then poured onto the primary image to suggest glass. Jean also works in concrete, and her hand-cast bowls have found homes in over 100 Austin-area homes. When not in her south Austin garage studio, Jean is writing fiction, making music, or trying to train a scoundrel of a dog.

I have long been wowed by color, texture, and anything that can't easily be defined or described--a consequence, I think, of spending so much time slouched over a laptop, working with words each day. In 2020, however, things took a creative turn towards a much more literal series of canvases (the "Lockdown Windows" series) intended to demonstrate our isolation from the world and each other. I'm grateful that we are able to step into the world together again, grateful for that vaccine, and grateful to be resuming my work in textures and hues.