Style Imitating Art: Feeding in the Light by Jerry Garcia

About Style Imitating Art

Style Imitating Art is hosted by Salazar of 14 Shades of Grey, Terri of MeadowTree Style, and Shelbee of Shelbee on the Edge. Style Imitating Art challenges us to draw style inspiration from pieces of art. Every other Monday, one of the hosts, acting as curator, selects an inspiration image that they will each post on their blogs. The following Monday, each host shares her art inspired outfit. Participants are invited to submit their art inspired outfits to the curator by 10:00 p.m. EST on the Tuesday following the hosts’ art inspired outfit posts. The following day, Wednesday, the curator will share all of the submissions on her blog.

You don’t have to be a blogger to join! You are invited to share your images on Instagram or other social media platforms. Just be sure to tag Salazar, Terri, and Shelbee or use #TeamLOTSStyle and #StyleImitatingArt so the hosts know you have joined. Go have some fun in your closets and join the SIA challenge next week!

The Inspiration Artwork

The inspiration artwork was curated by me and my husband in a joint effort. He chose the artist and I chose the art. You can read why I chose this specific piece as my inspiration here.

Feeding in the Light by Jerry Garcia (Lithograph on paper, 1991)

About the Artist: Jerry Garcia

Jerome John Garcia was born on August 1, 1942, in San Francisco, California, the second child of Jose Ramon “Joe” Garcia and Ruth Marie “Bobbie” (née Clifford) Garcia. His parents named him after the composer Jerome Kern, giving him musical roots from the very beginning. Adding to his early musical roots, his father was a retired professional musician who owned a bar in downtown San Francisco and his mother was an amateur pianist. Music and singing was often a central activity at family reunions especially on his paternal side with the extended family having immigrated from Spain in 1919.

In 1946, at the age of 4, Jerry lost two-thirds of his right middle finger in a wood splitting accident with his older brother, Clifford Ramon “Tiff” Garcia. He admitted that he enjoyed showing off his mutilated digit during his youth as a parlor trick of sorts. Less than a year later, his father drowned in a fly fishing accident near Arcata in Northern California.

Following the death of his father, Jerry’s mother took over the operation of the bar, ultimately buying out her deceased husband’s business partner in that establishment. As a full-time working single mother of two, she sent her children to live nearby with her parents, Tillie and William Clifford, for the next five years. During his time with his grandparents, Jerry experienced a lot of autonomy which afforded him the freedom to embrace his artistic side. His artistic endeavors were greatly encouraged in elementary school, primarily by his third grade teacher who helped him to realize that “being a creative person was a viable possibility in life.” His grandmother introduced him to country and bluegrass music during these years which led him to pick up the banjo, the first stringed instrument that he learned to play.

His mother remarried in 1953 and moved her children back in with her and their new stepfather, Wally Matusiewicz. Relocating to Menlo Park shortly after due to the roughneck nature of their neighborhood, Jerry became acquainted with racism and antisemitism which he disliked intensely. But in the midst of navigating these disturbing practices, he was introduced to rock and roll and rhythm and blues by his brother who would make Jerry memorize the harmonies of his favorite songs. Jerry later attributed his early ear training to his brother’s methods.

In 1957, at the age of 15, Jerry discovered marijuana and would later reminisce about his first experience, “Me and a friend of mine went up into the hills with two joints, the San Francisco foothills, and smoked these joints and just got so high and laughed and roared and went skipping down the streets doing funny things and just having a helluva time.” During his teenage years, he also attended the San Francisco Art Institute studying under the tutelage of Wally Hedrick, and artist who came to prominence in the 1960s.

For his 15th birthday, Jerry’s mother gifted him an accordion, much to his disappointment as he had been wanting an electric guitar. After some pleading, his mother allowed him to exchange his accordion for an electric guitar and a small amplifier at a local pawn shop. His stepfather, who was also proficient with musical instruments, helped to tune his first guitar to an unusual open tuning. By tenth grade, Jerry was frequently finding himself in trouble for skipping school and fighting with his peers. As a result, his mother moved the family in 1959 to Sonoma County, 90 miles north of San Francisco. While he did not like the 30 minute bus ride to the nearest school, he did join a high school band known as The Chords who won a contest that allowed them to record a song. They chose “Raunchy” by Bill Justis.

In 1960, Jerry stole his mother’s car and as a reprimand he was given the choice to either go to prison or join the Army. He completed his basic training at the now closed Fort Ord in Monterey Bay, California. His post-training assignment was to Fort Winfield Scott in the Presidio of San Francisco where he spent most of his time engaged in leisurely activities, missing roll call, and accruing multiple counts of going AWOL, which eventually led to his dishonorable discharge on December 14, 1960.

Skipping over the next 5 years of Jerry’s story, we come to 1965 when the Grateful Dead was formed. At this time, he was in a band called Mother McCree’s Uptown Jug Champions which evolved into the Warlocks. When they realized that another band had already assumed the name Warlocks (that band eventually became the Velvet Underground), they sought out a new name. Jerry randomly opened a Funk and Wagnall’s dictionary to the entry for “Grateful dead”, which was defined as “a dead person, or his angel, showing gratitude to someone who, as an act of charity, arranged their burial.” While the band’s first reaction to this name was disapproval, the name quickly spread by word of mouth and became their official band name.

For the entire existence of the Grateful Dead, Jerry served as lead guitarist and one of the principal vocalists and songwriters for the band. While he is most famously known for his musicianship and as a founding member of the Grateful Dead, Jerry Garcia was also a very talented visual artist. Having attended what is now the San Francisco Art Institute when he was a teenager, he began a second career in the late 1980s as a visual artist. He produced drawings, etchings, and watercolors that were exhibited at the Weir Gallery in Berkeley, California, from 1989-1996. He had his first solo exhibition in 1990 sponsored by Roberta Weir. Garcia was one of the earliest artists to adopt digital art media and his artistic style was as varied, eclectic, and colorful as his musical creativity. Roberta Weir currently maintains an archive of Jerry Garcia’s artwork. 

I am not going to get into the details of his personal romantic life and his multiple meaningful relationships or issues about his lifestyle and health. You can go read all that on your own if you are interested. I will end here with the end of his life. After a long struggle with drug addiction, weight issues, sleep apnea, diabetes, and years of heavy smoking, Jerry Garcia died of a heart attack in his room at a rehabilitation clinic on August 9, 1995, just 8 days after his 53rd birthday. He was married 4 times and had 4 children.

About the Art: Feeding in the Light

Feeding in the Light is a lithograph on paper that represents Garcia’s interpretation of the colorful marine life that he witnessed during his scuba diving adventures in Hawaii. Besides the time he spent creating music, one of his favorite things to do was scuba diving in the Pacific. It was his happy place as is evidenced by the joy that comes forth through this painting.

This lithograph paper measures 14.5 x 17 inches (36.8 x 43.2 cm) with the image proportions of 9 x 12 inches (22.9 x 30.5 cm) and was reproduced in limited numbers. He would often sell his artwork at festivals and concerts, signing each one individually as they were sold. Since there was no stockpile of signed reproductions left after his death, his hand signed artwork is highly collectible today with prices ranging from $900 to $3,500.

References/Resources:

• Wikipedia: Jerry Garcia
• Image Makers Art/Gallery of Stars: Feeding in the Light
• Renjeau Galleries: Feeding in the Light

About My Outfit Inspired by Feeding in the Light

I knew tie dye was the way to go for this one especially since it epitomizes the hippie generation which Jerry Garcia so famously represents. I went for my thrifted tie dye Zara slip dress that made its first appearance in a Style Imitating Art post back in January…Sweet Dreams by Rus Khasanov. In that post, I layered this pastel tie dye summer dress underneath a brightly tie dyed hoodie for a cold weather outfit.

This time I created a summer look with a thrifted lace duster vest in a beautiful teal color. I wore my fish earrings that Archie made for me a few years ago with his 3Doodler pen and a painted shell necklace both to pay homage to the theme of scuba diving and the bright bold colors that one would see in Pacific coral reefs. Rope sandals and a colorful straw bag completed my look with a marine blue colored scarf in my hair. I felt very much in tune with my hippie soul in this outfit and have been wearing this easy slip dress on repeat during these hot and humid days of summer.

I think Jerry would approve of this look very much! What do you think?

Be sure to check out Salazar’s interpretation of the painting as well as Terri’s take on it. If you want to join us and be featured in my gallery post on Wednesday, July 27, 2022, please send me your photos by Tuesday, July 26, 2022, at 10:00 p.m. EST and then check back for a gallery of gorgeous art inspired looks.

Keeping it on the edge,

Shelbee

Linking up with these Fabulous Link Parties.

Outfit Details: Dress (Zara) and Lace Vest (LulaRoe)-Thrifted / Sandals-Nomadic State of Mind / Bralette-Torrid / Earrings-Made by Archie / Bag-Burlington Coat Factory / Necklace and Scarf-Old