RJD Gallery | On View Now | Romeo, MI

Celebrating Artists

An all-inclusive holiday show presents stunning selections from RJD Gallery’s roster.

By Michael Clawson

RJD Gallery is celebrating the end of the year and the holidays by acknowledging its talented artists and passionate collectors with a large presentation of artwork that provides a fascinating cross-section of what the gallery offers.

Jamie Wyeth, Me and My Vulture, oil on board, 28 x 31 in.“As a gallery, we think about art every day—but more and more, we find ourselves thinking about the art of living as well. The holidays have a way of bringing what truly matters into focus: the people we love, the comfort of home, and the small, quiet moments that sustain us,” says Joi Jackson Perle, RJD’s gallery director. “Life can feel so full for many of us, in ways we don’t always speak aloud, or always recognize immediately. In that fullness, gratitude becomes a refuge. It reminds us to notice the beauty still around us—whether through creativity, a shared meal, a journey taken, or a simple moment of stillness. These experiences don’t just uplift us; they restore and guide us. We are wishing everyone a gentle, meaningful holiday season with those they love, and a new year filled with hope, connection, and artful living—whatever that looks like for you right now.”

Jamie Wyeth, Matinicus, charcoal, colored pencil, gouache, watercolor on rag board, 24 x 30 in.

The December showcase will include a large variety of work in both two and three dimensions. One of the key artists with available art is England-based painter Lyndsey Jameson, whose paintings often feature nature near her home. For Gordale Gill, Jameson paints a woman clothed in an elaborate black dress lost in thought in an outdoor setting. “Gordale Gill lies on Barningham Moors in County Durham, near my home. I’ve explored these moors with my family for most of my life, and some of my earliest memories are of walking the hilltops with my grandparents, searching for the wildlife that lives there,” Jameson says. “I feel the bleak, desolate landscape perfectly captures the spirit of the North of England; a kind of grimness that seeps into your very being. I’m drawn to bleak, existential stories and I try to shape every aspect of the image to reflect that mood.”

Lyndsey Jameson, Point of Departure, 19 ¾ x 19 ¾ in.

In another work, Inquisitors, Jameson clung to British history to illuminate her subjects and themes. “Inquisitors was inspired by my reading about the Newcastle witch trials in the UK, where people, mainly women, were handed over to the authorities in exchange for money. The witch finders—paid by the number of witches they exposed—were corrupt and driven by greed,” the artist says. “I chose to represent the witch finders as crows, drawing on historical artists’ use of birds as symbols of surveillance—‘spies’ and ‘eyes in the sky.’ Several years ago, I bought a taxidermied crow that has since become an invaluable prop,” she says, adding that clothing plays a large role within her paintings. “I don’t stage each piece within a specific time period but instead match the costumes to the mood of the work. The Victorian mourning dress appears as a recurring motif throughout my practice. I make much of the clothing used in my paintings to achieve a particular look but also often collect garments or accessories that might one day prove useful.”

Kim Simonsson, Moss Boy, ceramic, feathers, nylon fiber, 34 x 19 ¾ x 17 ¾ in.; Kim Simonsson, Moss Girl, ceramic, feathers, nylon fiber, 37 x 19 ¾ x 17 ¾ in.

Lyndsey Jameson, Gordale Gill, oil on canvas, 24 x 30 in.

Yoan Capote, Dogma, bronze with stainless steel handcuffs, 34 x 17 x 17¼ in.

Other works in the show include Donald Roller Wilson’s painting The Ascension of Jane, which presents a surreal scene with a dog in a dress, a floating chair and falling bell peppers. Interpretations of the scene will surely span a variety of ideas, but one recurring thought is likely to be about the painting’s feeling of falling with the subjects.

Donald Roller Wilson, The Ascension of Jane, oil on canvas, 50 x 40 in.

Two works by Jamie Wyeth will be offered: Me and My Vulture, showing the scavenger bird on an unseen person’s arm amid a beautiful skyscape, and also Matinicus, featuring a girl in a purple dress standing in front of a classic car. The paintings have that unmistakable Wyeth brushwork and color palette. The artist, the son of Andrew Wyeth and grandson of N.C. Wyeth, has carved his own unique niche within contemporary realism over the last 60 years.

In addition to paintings, RJD Gallery will also be presenting sculptural works, including Finnish artist Kim Simonsson’s ceramic figurative works such as Moss Boy and Moss Girl,and also pieces by Cuban sculptor Yoan Capote, who creates bronze chairs that seem to defy physics as they stand with “broken” edges and elements that have the same qualities as optical illusions.