JUSTINE LUCAS

Artist Statement

A Life in the Arts...

Justine Lucas was raised by poets and painters in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, California. As a young child, she excelled in painting and won several art contests for her drawings and paintings. She attended an arts charter school for part of middle school, where she first found her love for sculpture. For high school, she auditioned for and attended San Francisco School of the Arts, where she focused on figurative studies in painting and in sculpture. After graduation, and a gap year in the circus, she went on to attain her BFA from San Francisco State University in Studio Art with a dual emphasis in Painting and Sculpture, and a minor in World Music & Dance. Her mediums of choice at this point were oil paint, and wood and metal sculpture. Since graduating, Justine has continued creating and showing work in California. Her artwork focuses on the secret life of circus performers, as inspired by her years traveling with several local and international circus art troupes (scroll down for details).

  • Creative Arts Charter School

    Visual Arts Major

  • SF School of the Arts

    Visual Arts Major

  • San Francisco State University

    Fine Art Major
    Dual Emphasis in Painting & Sculpture
    World Music & Dance Minor
JUSTINE LUCAS

Artist Statement

About the Art...

"I'm interested in the human behind the character ~ I work to convey the secret vulnerable emotions of great performers of my generation. A lot of my work follows the lives of circus performers, artists, and musicians, because that's who I seem to surround myself with."

  • Circus Series 2007-2020

    Inspired by several years of touring the US & Canada with Cavalia, Cirque Du Soleil, Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey, and local Californian circus productions.

  • Figure Series 2004-2022

    Works on the study of the human figure as it relates to time. Paintings of figures in nostalgic atmospheres, drawings of figures in movement, and sculptures aged with moss, fungus, and dirt.

  • RED LINE SERIES 2020-2022

    Works on a new concept I'm developing around heart energy, human connection, and closed-circuit self-love. This series is a marriage between figurative studies and abstract shapes with lines.
2007-2020

circus series

Inspired by several years of touring the US & Canada with Cavalia, Cirque Du Soleil, Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey, and local Californian circus productions.

Acrylic PAINTINGS

Circus Series

Underpaintings

Circus Series

india ink works

Circus Series

Drawings

Circus Series

ILLUSTRATIONS

Circus Series

Photography

Circus Series
JUSTINE LUCAS

Artist Statement

A Life in the Circus...

Justine Lucas first discovered her passion for circus arts in a circus summer camp at the AcroSports center in San Francisco. Fascinated, she returned every summer for 7 years. Her focus areas were clowning, costume design, and prop design. She simultaneously attended Shakespeare theatre camp each summer as well and went on to study musical theatre in middle school. After graduating from an arts high school, she returned to her circus summer tradition and spent several months on tour with Northern California performance troupe Cirkus Pandemonium, where she lived on a giant purple tour bus with 10 other circus performers.

She started college at SFSU, creating a well-rounded degree in the arts studying as many forms as she could at once (painting, sculpture, music, and dance), and spent summers on tour either with other circus troupes (Freelove Circus, Humboldt Circus) or her own music performance project (The Jaunting Martyrs).

After college, Justine left SF completely on a continent-wide circus tour. She explored the US & Canada with various music groups and circus productions for 3 years, studying the art of performance, costume design, and stage production. Based in San Francisco, California, Justine Lucas now runs an independent film company, a jazz and swing big band dance cabaret, and continues exploring the lives of performers and artists with her own painting and illustrations.

  • Cavalia 2015-2018

  • Cirque Du Soleil 2016

  • Ringling Bro.s 2017

2004-2022

FIGURE series

Works on the study of the human figure as it relates to time.
Paintings of figures in nostalgic atmospheres, drawings of figures in movement, and sculptures aged with moss, fungus, and dirt.

Oil PAINTINGS

Figure Series

Graphite DRawings

Figure Series

PLASTER CASTS

Figure Series

Clay Sculptures

Figure Series

These sculptures were created in 2004 and aged in a garden for 18 years to develop natural moss growth. This series touches on the impermanence of life and is a tribute to the timeless concept of memento mori.


BEFORE:

AFTER:
JUSTINE LUCAS

ART FOR FILM

Justine's filmmaking process, from pre-production to post-production:

  1. Mood boards that express the unified look of each scene including location, costume, color scheme, lighting, and material textures.
  2. Film treatments that describe what the camera sees from beginning to end of a scene.
  3. Storyboards that illustrate the main frames; characters in frame, expression or action, camera movement, shot type (wide angle, medium shot, or close-up) and perspective (side-angle, straight-on, or follow-shot).
  4. Film stills from actual film shoot, portraying final product and the actualization of initial mood boards.

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