Jane Yelliot’s “Family Zoo”

“Family Zoo” is a whimsical collection of watercolor portraits by Jane Yelliott, the featured artist for August at In-Town Gallery. These personal studies are of her relatives with their beloved pets, from dogs to donkeys. Jane expresses her preference, “Trees, flowers, mountains and lakes are all beautiful things to paint, but animals, and children in particular, are just incredible creatures to paint.”

The most prominent artwork in the “Family Zoo” exhibit on the front wall of the gallery is a life-sized tan and white cow named Esmerelda. Jane painted this on a sheet of plywood for the Cherry Street location of In-Town Gallery in 1984. It was hoisted up to the roof and secured above the entrance façade. When the gallery moved to its present location on Frazier Avenue in 1994, Jane gave it to her son, Grant, and daughter-in-law, Shula, for their farm in Ooltewah.

Esmerelda is the third in a series of six cows that Jane has painted. The first, a black-and-white cow named Mariah, went to Jane’s sister, Martha, who took it to Hawaii. The second cow was in the live auction at the Hunter Museum’s Spectrum. The fourth was commissioned by a patron who lost the bid for number two. Her fame as the “cow lady” led to her receiving a commission from the Smithsonian Institute to make a two-sided cow, in black and white, for a special “Think Tank” exhibit at their zoo in Washington, D.C.

During her 24 years at In-Town Gallery, as a versatile artist in many different mediums, Jane has produced portraits in pastel and oil, imaginative dragonfly and butterfly designs in ink and watercolor, and colorful figures on porcelain tiles. In the 1990s Ruth Holmberg commissioned her to paint the “Parade of Turtles”, a collection of colorful turtle designs on large black porcelain tiles for the floor of the Tennessee Aquarium, in honor of her husband, Bill. Later, Johnson & Wales University in Charlotte, NC, commissioned her to create a series of murals made with hand-painted tiles depicting the evolution of food throughout history. Some years ago she won the Masonry competition with her brick-and-mortar design for a sidewalk bench on Market Street that features lively cats and fish painted with ceramic glazes on large slow-fired bricks.

written by Helen Burton

Ruth Holmberg with Truffle

Our faithful subs - Gail Rich and Doug McCoy

Jane talking with Verina Baxter

Shown with Jane Yelliott's "Family Zoo" exhibit at In-Town Gallery during the recent opening reception, are family members (left to right ) Susan Batten, Ryan Norris, Finch Yelliott, Shula Yelliott, and Jane Yelliott.