Painting "Blue Sea" can be seen at De Cordeva Museum's Permanent Collection
Gail Jerauld Bos: When Art Shapes The Heart, it Shakes The World
Writer, Mic Theory
“I work in my studio on Green Street, Jamaica Plain. My art, whether installation, painting, or print, tries to document conflicting values: compassion vs tolerance for violence, equal opportunity vs individual freedom, peace vs justice. At best I hope my art becomes a conversation piece that reveals common concerns and moves us to work for change.“
Gail Bos has been an artist working to transform the world for as far back as she can recall, her life has had artistic expression of one form or another in it but she began painting in 1992. Upon our first meeting she served herbal tea and sweet cakes in a living worm filled with art that brought a life of its own into the space. It was like snacking in Tamara De Lempicka’s foyer or Georgia O'keeffe's sandy cactus strewn porch in Mexico.
You had a sense the art was alive it fit the surroundings and every turn and slice of color informing your senses was trying to convey a message. The overwhelming message of Gail’s art has been to juxtapose the viewers emotions, to be a good caretaker see both sides and weigh them. Whether that is of the planet or of each other or even of ourselves the overwhelming feeling is we all matter in the world.
Women artists of Gail's stature never seem to get the praise they deserve, but the art flows from her it lives and breathes on its own. Her palettes are sensual and flowing, sometimes a bit garish because they expose truths and truth can be shocking to those who spend lifetimes in fictions of being socially responsible by ignoring truth.
Gail Bos converses with a patron at the soft opening of The Forgotten Souls of Tory Row Exhibition.
Earlier this year 2022 Gail partnered to bring to life an installation of bottle trees an Appalachian and African tradition that combined cultures and spirituality in a way to honor and heal a community with an oft hidden not altogether favorable racial past. The Installation entitled “The Forgotten Souls of Tory Row” is another of what Gail would term her “Guerilla Art” Installation works. It was the combined effort of Artists and Community leaders who wanted to find a way of giving positive expression and honor to the enslaved who have been omitted from the history books despite great toil, hardship and intellectual as well as social strides that helped build the city of Cambridge MA.
Gail Jerauld Bos was born in 1938 but you wouldn’t know it her energy is high and her wit and sense of humor always at the ready. Gail has worked and succeeded in construction, education, art and international development in West Africa. But if you bring up Africa in conversation be prepared to be invited as a guest on her next trip there, if the conversation is long you may be purchasing tickets before it ends! In her own words Gail documents conflicting values which in todays world seems to be the main issue in every form of media and communications. What is the truth? Whose values are to be considered correct? Why is it things that used to be apparent are now so confusing? Is there a consensus on common sense?
Gail exposes the hypocrisy. her process begins with “a simple and direct printmaking process: rolling ink or brushing oil paint on a Plexiglas plate. Days or maybe years pass before she works with that image – something inspires her to begin and the old image is transformed into a new piece that is ready to show.”
Gail’s work can be seen in Galleries and Museums all over New England Art by Gail Jerauld Bos is in the permanent collection of the Board of Trustees of the DeCordova Museum, the Lowell Historic Preservation Commission, and The Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists. Gail is the recipient of numerous awards including “Best of Show” for paintings and mixed media works.
To view or purchase her work contact:
Different Voices Studio
62 Green St, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
email:gailbos@comcast.net
phone:617-522-2426
mail:48 Sheridan Street, Jamaica Plain, MA 02130
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