Lacoste Landscapes

Here are a few of my landscapes from Southern France. My short stay in Lacoste was a wonderful and enriching experience. I had the company of 17 other painting majors in the new Maison Basse studio. Here is what came of my Landscape painting class taught by the amazing Professor Sandra Reed.

"Bonnieux Soccer Pitch" 5x9in, oil on canvas paper

"Reflections in Bonnieux" Oil on Canvas

Moonlight in Lacoste",  oil on canvas paper

Maison Basse

This quarter SCAD completed a 10 year renovation on the "new" Maison Basse artist residency. Just a 15 minute walk down a rocky Roman path from Lacoste, France the building contains several common areas, dorms, a painting studio (my favorite part), kitchen and a pool! Unfortunately I did not have the opportunity to live here this quarter but I did take full advantage of the Painter's studio lit by a beautiful sky light and home to 18 amazing painting majors this quarter who broke in the new studio.

Before

After

Awesome skylight

My desk

Design for ZeroUI

     I have been working for Zero UI for about six months doing design and art consulting. Everything from storyboards, branding design and illustration. Their website was just published, check it out. Here are some samples of my projects:

Construction and De-Construction: Passage

Here are some sketches of the planning of the support structure from which the sheets would hang. I owe it to my peers for this one. The frame consisted of simple dowel joints which were extremely strong and required no glue or screws, this allowed for the work to be dismantled and packaged efficiently.

De-installing process

In process: Drilling holes for the dowel joints.

Installed.

Rolling sheets on rods to be mailed.

Passage: An Interactive Installation

Passage is a temporary interactive Installation. During the creation of the piece I was inspired to reflect the landscape which surrounded me, the rolling hills and valleys of Southern France. I was taken not only by the color-changing vineyards and moist caves but the vast sky that seemed to renew itself every day, fresh and crisp. This vast blue negative space which I represent with positive layers yet the air, the sky, fills the space between the sheets of fabric. The landscape is an ever changing element and experiencing it is an extreme sensory experience, two characteristics I attempted to capture.

Photo Credit: Kayla Cloonan

Photo Credit: Kayla Cloonan

 This piece also evokes a sense of play, like running through the sheets as a child. The hanging sheets of fabric also have a feminine quality with the waves of the edges and the layers mimicking a Georgia O'keefe painting. When inside of the work one feels safe and yet vulnerable.

Photo Credit: Kayla Cloonan

Photo Credit: Daniel Dennis

Photo Credit: Kayla Cloonan

Fontaine de Vaucluse

I've fallen in love with a place, can't I just live here for a year? Today our landscape painting class took an excursion to Fontaine de Vaucluse, one of the most beautiful places in France. Unfortunately it is somewhat of a tourist trap but during the fall there is less traffic and people. The autumn colors have started to peak through, it is simply breathtaking. 

detail

In progress

Installation Update

 Hey everyone! Just got back from Paris! Here is a maquette I created for my Installation class. I have all  my materials and am ready to start building!

In the Studio: Let the painters paint!

    This week while the majority of the students at the Lacoste campus adventured in Paris the Painters remained behind to a mostly quiet week of intense studio time! Quiet, save for the hurricane force winds.

Intense fútbol scrimmage

Roussillon Ochre Factory

 The painters took an excursion to the quaint town of Roussillon, a short drive from Lacoste, for a tour of the Ochre pigment factory and a workshop. For only 17 Euros we learned about how the pigments were created, the binders they use and a workshop with creating paints from the local pigments, sap binding and egg tempera.

Pigments!!!

Emily painting with a cheese based paint

Sujay and his clouds

The painters out for glaces! 

Path to Bonnieux

     Just down the little white path from Maisson Basse, the new artist residency in Lacoste, France at the Savannah College of Art and Design are a few lovely views. Julie Ferris and I took a stroll with our pallets in one hand and our new French easels over our shoulders. Here is just the beginning.

What incredible greens!

First plein air session for this one.

Julie at work!

Look at the Skies!

On a trip out to the chateau above Lacoste the landscape painting class learned to look at the skies, clouds in particular. Using Strathmore oil paper we created several panoramas of the sky. 

"Nooks"

     This piece is about reacting to what is there and noticing the nooks and the cracks, the things that normally go unnoticed. The length of the thread is continuous throughout the piece as it continues from wall to wall and interacting with objects such as jars, branches and other found objects. These act as events throughout the life of the installation.
     Physically the work does impact the space in any way, it simply weaves in-between, in and out, through and around the stones and walls. Spatially the materials will complement and responding to its location by accentuating and creating contours based on the behavior of the rock.
     The yarn is a parallel to the line of thought; this piece can be experienced meditatively as the viewer follows it from one end to the other or with an interest in the actions and reactions. It is the details and hidden treasures that excite me about this space and this is what I would like to bring to the attention of others so that they may appreciate the grand history of this area and the little (and often overlooked) beautiful things about this picturesque town of Lacoste, France.