Dreaming in Color

by EVA GILL, Marketing Creative — J Bar J Youth Services

Kimry Jelen had an idea. As ideas do, it floated through her mind, ethereal and whispering to her. Kimry is a successful artist, well known in Central Oregon, and whose art enlivens spaces around the world. This idea was for something bigger than she’d ever done before, a huge undertaking.

She told me because she had to. It’s human nature to hide our loftiest goals, fearing audacity. But this big wish involves saying no to those things that would hold her back, and the story came along with one of those nos: 2023 would be the last year Kimry would be the poster artist for the Oregon High Desert Classics.

She had not started telling people about this dream, citing all those fears we all face when reaching for something big. Uncertainty in how to make it happen, facing the logistics of the undertaking, the amount of money and level of commitment and energy to pull it off. I told her she needed to. By telling others, you start to act as if it’s going to happen. That’s the biggest step, all the others you will figure out. One must act as if it will happen, because if you don’t, it won’t.

And so she did — Kimry is sharing her dream and taking steps to make it happen. An idea which started as a series of small art shows merged into one large one she plans to call Colors of the Horse. Her ideal scenario is to find an exhibit space in Florida, close to Wellington International during their world-famous Winter Equestrian Festival, and configure her large art show installation to fit the space.

Imagine a rainbow, but not in the stripy way we usually draw them, but an ombré of colors blending from one to the next in the spectrum, each horse another color in a continuous circle around the room. Several large paintings will represent the primary and secondary colors, with many smaller works connecting the larger in space and blended color. Together over 100 paintings will form a 5’ tall ‘rainbow’ of horses encircling the space.

The work will take a couple of years to complete, with the earliest possible open date being in 2025. By taking concrete steps and working inside a space of belief in possibility, Kimry is making her dream a reality. I, for one, and excited to see her dreams take shape.

We at the J Bar J Youth Services and the Oregon High Desert Classics are sad to see her move on from her longstanding role as our official poster artist. We are forever grateful to Kimry for her steadfast support. We will be looking for a new poster artist beginning with our shows in 2024.

The Oregon High Desert Classics draws hundreds of horses and thousands of participants for one of the largest hunter jumper shows in the region. It serves as a primary fundraiser for J Bar J Youth Services, an organization offering a continuum of programs and services for youth in Central Oregon.

The organization began with two boys who had made poor choices and a phone call. A judge was faced with no option but to send them to MacLaren when what they needed was stability and structure, not jail. He made a call to Lyle Jarvis, one of J Bar J’s founders, and Lyle stepped up. From those two boys, J Bar J Boys Ranch was formed.

Over the following decades, when there have been youth in need in the community, J Bar J has stepped up. Stepped up with programs offering crisis intervention, family mediation and stable housing for youth experiencing homelessness or who have run away. Support and case management for those who have been trafficked. Seeing the impact mentors have on youth’s outcomes, they formed a local affiliate of Big Brothers Big Sisters. Stepping up each time to help the next youth over their obstacles.

J Bar J Youth Services’ programs include: Cascade Youth & Family Center, Grandma’s House, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Oregon, Kindred Connections, at: project, J Bar J Boys Ranch & J5, Academy at Sisters, The Learning Center at J Bar J & Vocational Program. jbarj.org