DVAA Member, Pia Girolama is exhibiting at Cerulean Arts the April. Support the Artist by attending the opening reception on April 9th, from 2pm-5pm at Cerulean Arts. Learn more about the exhibit by clicking the button below.
About the Exhibit:
In a departure from my usual way of working, which is from my own field sketches and photographs, during the Covid pandemic travel ban I began to work from the Instagram photographs of a lifelong friend who lived on the West Coast, Laurel Adrian Termini. Laurel and I had not seen each other in person since college; we were roommates at Barnard College in NYC during the late 70’s early 80’s. Laurel connected with me some years ago on Facebook and then Instagram. She admired work which I was posting online and started to acquire it.
During the COVID 19 pandemic lockdown, the studio was a refuge and I worked steadily on a series focusing on the Arctic which was based on a trip to the Svalbard Archipelago above the Arctic Circle in 2019. I was finishing up the series when I began noticing Laurel’s Instagram feed filling up with keenly observed photos from the Huntington Gardens, a botanical garden near where she lives. I could see that she was not merely capturing pretty pictures but focusing on forms, line, shadow, and mystery and producing some compelling work. Laurel, a dentist, had to continue working during the lockdown and being on the front lines of health care was taking its toll. She made weekly trips to the Huntington and walking through the gardens and observing and photographing aspects of the plant life helped her de-stress. I felt moved to paint from her images and asked whether I could use them as a jumping off point for my own work. She agreed and so began a back and forth exchange of images and ideas.
Making art has always been a source of wellbeing for me. The ability to deeply focus and achieve the sense of flow when immersed in a painting leads to a sense of calm and an elevation of mood. It is now well known that making art and also viewing art can produce a meditative state. Being in nature produces that similar state of calm and elevation of mood. Studies confirm that making art, viewing art and being in nature produce positive physiological changes such as lowering of blood pressure and cortisol levels.