About Jamie

BIO

Jamie Orr is an abstract artist based in Rockaway Beach, New York. With a background in Psychology and Visual Arts, she holds a master’s degree in Applied Behavior Analysis and spent over a decade as a behavior analyst specializing in autism. In 2021, she shifted fully into her studio practice.Her work has been exhibited throughout the Northeast, including South Carolina, New Jersey, Connecticut, and New York. Jamie is a member of Visionary Projects NY, and her paintings are held in private collections across the US, Canada, England, Mexico, Germany, and Dubai.

ARTIST STATEMENT

My work explores the interplay between control and surrender. Each painting begins with a textured ground of grout and plaster that I carve into and then build upon with fluid washes of paint. This foundation begins a slow, grounded evolution, resulting in a surface shaped as much by erosion as by intention. The process is unplanned yet deliberate, an act of uncovering rather than constructing. I treat every painting as a conversation, responding to what appears instead of forcing a fixed outcome.

Experimentation sits at the core of my practice. While I work with a regular rotation of limestone powder, plaster, grout, sand, salt, seawater, and coffee grounds, I'm always on the lookout for something new to introduce into the mix. Temperature, humidity, and time make these materials behave unpredictably, creating subtle shifts and quiet surprises that guide the rhythm of my process.

Life on the coast continually shapes my work. Salt permeates the air and sea, influencing how materials dry and settle. My palettes and textures echo weathered cliffs, shifting tides, and mineral surfaces. Natural processes of erosion, growth, and decay guide both the look and the sensation of the paintings, making them layered, veiled, and quietly alive.

I aim to create spaces of stillness and introspection. My paintings invite viewers to slow down, observe closely, and find their own dialogue between the inner and outer worlds, between what is visible and what remains beneath the surface.