French Connections: Part II

Intern Emma Cunningham-Bradshaw interviewed Touchstone member artist Amy Sabrin about her ‘In Provence’ watercolor collection and her trips to an artist residency in the Provence region of France that inspired it. Amy fondly recalls the fun shapes of the trees, the pervading smell of lavender, and the vivid colors that make you think of artists such as Cézanne and Van Gogh who painted scenes of Provence as realists rather than impressionists. Emma followed in Amy’s footsteps, visiting many of her favorite places in Provence while endeavoring to capture elements of the environment that Amy was so enamored with.

The Zoom waiting room closes and up pops Amy Sabrin in a pale green shirt with one of her own watercolor paintings as the background: blue-purple trees in the region of Provence, France, casting shadows over a golden yellow field. Amy thought it appropriate to showcase this image since today we are speaking about her collection ‘In Provence’ and what inspired it. Starting in 2009 and continuing for eight non-consecutive years until before the pandemic, Amy went to a hamlet in the Luberon National Park called les Bassacs. There, for two weeks in the summer she attended Arts in Provence, a program started by two British artists who had lived in Provence for years. When Amy began going to Provence, she was still a full-time lawyer. “I didn’t have much time to paint when I wasn’t there. So, I just wanted to paint every hour I could.”

Under the Olives

The primary activity every day at Arts in Provence was ‘plein-air’ painting which is, most simply, when one paints outdoors. ‘Plein-air’, literally ‘open air’, is a practice that emerged in the 19th century in France with the invention of tin paint tubes. This enabled artists to travel with ready-mixed paints. ‘Plein-air’ painting fueled the Impressionist movement with artists such as Monet and Renoir endeavoring to capture the changes in the environment on a canvas. Amy says of her summers in Provence, “lavender was in bloom, every day you would go out and paint plein-air in this new, beautiful location and then you had art instruction in the afternoon, art critique and wonderful meals, homemade on-site with all the fresh local food and wine. It’s just an unbelievable experience in a beautiful place so I kept going back, and that’s what inspired all these paintings.” I ask Amy about what she thinks drew such famous artists, and continues to draw artists to Provence today. She believes it is the light and rural scenery. “When I think of Provence, I think of Van Gogh and Cézanne. When you walk into these pine forests, they look just like a Cezanne painting! You think his painting is made up, it’s actually more realist than you think it is… those colors, especially the orange and the green. It’s just such a pleasant environment.”

This vibrant orange is best showcased in the ochre quarries of the Luberon Valley. I visited one of these quarries named ‘Le Colorado Provençal’ because of its startling similarity to the American Southwest’s colors and rock formations. Indeed, the smell, dry heat and colors all reminded me of Colorado or New Mexico. The ground beneath as I walk up the mountain, on a path between fragrant pine trees, is red clay. As the rock formations come into view, one sees a continuum of color, from light pink, to yellows, bright oranges and reds. This land was mined for paint pigments for almost two centuries, and is now protected territory where people like myself and Amy can admire the land. This type of land is something I never fathomed seeing outside the US. One thing that reminded me I was in Provence while on that hike was seeing the lavender fields atop the mountain, blowing in the breeze and buzzing with bees. 

Amy’s plein-air painting at the ochre quarry

However, the vibrant colors in the ochre quarries are anomalies with regard to the Provence landscape. The colors of the vegetation oscillate between yellows and pale greens. Much of Provence is wheat fields, and so that golden color of grain is ubiquitous. The ground is sandy both in color and texture. It is a very dry environment, though there are lush milieus like shaded gardens and vineyards—Provence is famous for its rosé. Out in the open, unshielded by shade, the heat is quite relentless, particularly in the afternoon when everything slows down. At that time, most businesses close and people take their daily respite from the toils of the day. Arts in Provence also abided by this tradition. After finishing the daily art lesson and of course a sumptuous meal, the artists were free to do as they wished. Amy said most often they would sketch or paint in the environs of the school, either individually or as a group. “There are these beautiful undulating vineyards and lavender fields within a very short walk of where we stayed and so that was a frequent attraction.” When I visited Les Bassacs, I walked on a path that continued beyond the village. I focused on the trees rising on either side and their shadows, criss-crossing on the ground below. I imagined Amy would have painted there, and I’m sure she did. She said of Les Bassacs, “that time of year you can be outside until 10 at night; it’s still light. The sunsets, the sunrises are gorgeous. Where we stayed there are many teeny weeny villages and they’re all perched on the side of the valley. The art school was on one side, and if you sat on the patio overlooking the valley, as it got dark, the lights would come on all over. It was just magical.”

Shadow Play, painted plein-air in Les Bassacs

One can discern Amy’s love of light, color and shape in her ‘In Provence’ paintings: shadows of trees cutting luminous paths, flame-red tomatoes in market baskets, a sinuous black cat on a pastel window sill. Amy painted exclusively in watercolors when she was there. “One thing I really like about watercolors is that they’re so transparent and luminous and the light bounces through them, and that is consistent with the environment there. From a technical point of view, if you’re working fast, watercolor dries fast, since it’s a very dry environment.” She found the trees in Provence particularly appealing. “The trees just have the most fun shapes and they make the most fun negative shapes, and their leaves are this interesting silvery color. It took me like two years to figure out how to mix that color. The sun comes under them and they cast these cool shadows.”

Market Day, Apt

The coloring of the towns in Provence reflect the natural environment: dry with toned down versions of every color. One sees shutters the same purple-gray as lavender fields and walls of orange hues (some painted with pigments from the ochre quarries). Many of the towns in Provence were founded prior to the 15th century, including Saint-Saturnin-lès-Apt, one of Amy’s favorite towns. At the highest point of the town, there are well-preserved ruins of a medieval fortress and several cypress trees (perhaps Van Gogh’s favorite tree, as seen in his paintings) as well as a still-operating church dating to the 11th century. You are also surrounded by a stunning vista of the Luberon Valley and look down to see all the clay-shingled houses of the town proper. There, you walk through narrow sloping streets, stumble upon arched passageways, see bushy vines shrouding ornate doors and all those classic Provence colors.

Dreaming of St. Sat

While Amy has painted scenes from several countries, there are only two places that she is most drawn to: coastal areas in the US (she is calling me from Bethany Beach, Delaware) and Provence. She sees the commonality of these two areas in their colors and bright light. These are environments she’s spent a lot of time observing, practicing mixing the colors she perceives around her. Years of immersion in Provence made her very familiar with the land. “I went so many years in a row, that I could almost paint with my eyes closed, thinking of the sounds, the breeze, the sunlight.” She even cultivated relationships with market vendors who she would see year after year. “In the eight years I was there, the same vendors were always in the same place. I remembered the vendors and they would remember me.”

About half of the paintings in the ‘In Provence’ collection were painted plein-air in France, while others were inspired by the memories and photos of her surroundings. Arts in Provence has not operated since the pandemic. Yet, even though Amy hasn’t been to Provence in several years, the sense of the environment is embedded within her. “I look at the paintings I did in Provence and I can remember what it felt like when I painted it, when I was in that place.” 

French Connections: Part 1

This is first in a series of three articles on Touchstone member artists and their connections to France. Emma Cunningham-Bradshaw, a Summer 2023 Touchstone intern, interviewed photographer Rick Braswell at his home in Paris. They spoke of Rick’s street photography style, his experiences traveling and photographing in Europe, and the torturous feeling of not having his camera on him when he sees the perfect shot! Emma also visited places where Rick likes to shoot around Paris and Marseille (another one of Rick’s favorite cities) and includes her own images of the locales.

Rick Braswell in Paris

In his apartment overlooking l’Île de la Cité where a scaffold-laden Notre Dame stands, artist Rick Braswell welcomes me for an apératif and an interview. He and his wife Sandy have lived here in Paris for five years. As we settle in the living room, Sandy offers us each a glass of white wine and a plate of little snacks before retiring to her office. Although she has her own job to attend to, she helps Rick out on his artistic escapades including the weekly Marché de la Création — or Montparnasse art market — in the Montparnasse district of Paris. What is at night a cluster of neon signs, lanes of restaurants extending onto the sidewalk, and more than one sex shop, in the daytime becomes like many other Parisian locales with its bustling cafés and people going to and from markets and grocery stores. Only that over this district looms the Montparnasse Tower, the tallest building in Paris proper. “The Montparnasse art market is a fun thing.” Rick says. “It's physically kind of demanding since you have to bring all your stuff down, hang all the pictures with tension ropes… we don’t have a car so we carry everything over. Everybody there is an artist, a few photographers, many painters. The first time we arrived, just rookies and so grateful to be let into the market, my wife Sandy and I got out of a taxi and all these artists look and this guy says, “I think this is the first time an artist has ever arrived at the art market in a taxi.” Their surprise, of course, stemmed from the age old idea that artists don’t have much money. 

“So, what brought you to Paris?” I ask Rick. After years in D.C., Rick and Sandy moved to Geneva, Switzerland for Sandy’s job. When it came time to move and Sandy thought they would head back to D.C., Rick asked the question: “What about Paris?”. “We’ve always loved Paris, and visited many times. I knew I would love to photograph here, but we moved simply because I love Paris. I love the ambiance, the style of people, the look of the place, you just can’t beat the quality of life. There’s tons of culture including photography, art and music here. Jazz is a big passion of ours, and there are just wonderful jazz clubs in Paris. I love D.C. but I just thought, for something new, I’d like to live in Paris.”

Rick’s photographs have now become synonymous with Parisian and European street scenes. He’s traveled in Italy, France and Switzerland, focused on capturing people in cities. “For better or for worse you could say working people who are out doing what they’re doing.” He doesn’t care for photographing ‘the glitterati or well-to-do.’ “Those cafes of Paris, you can take beautiful pictures there, but it’s not so much my thing. I’m looking for working people, young people, and their families. The real diversity you find in the population.” When I ask why he is drawn to photographing the working-class, Rick reminds me that he was a union organizer before retiring and pursuing photography as a career. He sees himself as part of and sympathizes with the working-class, and finds beauty, excitement and fun in photographing regular folk. “I’m just not ever going to get that real appreciative feeling of taking a picture of a guy in an Armani suit.”

Tango, Banks of the Seine, Paris

Rick aims to be as discreet as possible when he’s on a shoot. “I don’t do any posing of people, I don’t ask people if I can take their picture because that’s not the picture I want. Most of my pictures you wouldn’t get if you asked the person, you wouldn’t get the sort of interesting picture I’m looking for.” He’s had a few people spot him and then object to him taking their picture, and while he respected their wishes, he sees no reason for people to object to his photographing. “I’m always trying to make people look good, and capture these characteristics that I think are really admirable and attractive. So, I have no bad motive in it.” He tells me that some photographers think that once you’re in the public space, others are free to look, photograph, paint you. While Rick is more sensitive to this issue and recognizes that taking photos is offensive in some milieus, he somewhat agrees with the sentiment.. “I take a picture and the picture turns into this piece of paper on the wall. Nobody’s ever going to attach that piece of paper to this person. It’s just something that existed in the world and I took a picture of it.”

Some might call this candid style of photography ‘humanism’, a movement in photography that blossomed in France after World War II. Rick speaks of the movement’s defining photographers: Sabine Weiss, William Ronis, Henri Cartier-Bresson. “These people took street photography shots back in the 50s, 60s and 70s. They’re just an inspiration if you do street photography. They always found something very human about the people they were dealing with, something that you would say, ‘oh, i’ve seen that gesture a million times, that’s exactly what people do!’ It’s real hard to get this kind of shot.” These artists mainly photographed in black and white which is also Rick’s preference. “Black and white photographs seem more artistic above and beyond anything that I’m doing; they look a lot better, more artistic and a little more meaningful.”

In short, Rick’s focus is on the people, interesting in their everyday activities, whether he’s in Paris or Chicago. He frequents Marseille, a city in the south of France. Parisians often give Marseille a bad reputation for its dirtiness (I did encounter several overflowing piles of trash just off of prominent boulevards), but Rick loves it for its grit. He also loves the sun and lighting there which, as a photographer, one notices right away. Marseille is on the Mediterranean sea and boasts a beautiful coastline, and many rocky alcoves with turquoise waters just minutes from the city-center. Many in Marseille are of North African descent. Walking down the streets near the Old Port, I hear about as much Arabic as I do French.

Old Port Marseille

Though I haven’t been to any North African country, I grew up in Tanzania and for a time lived in Zanzibar, an island off the coast. Similar to Marseille, Zanzibar has for centuries been a ground for cross-pollination of cultures and people. The sounds of Arabic on the streets of Marseille, the shops with baskets filled with bright spices, the all important ritual of tea (mint in Marseille, masala in Zanzibar) were comforting in their familiarity. Yet, in Marseille, only a short walk away from the North-African-leaning Noailles district, are those classical French buildings. This mélange of France and North Africa in terms of architecture, language and traditions make Marseille a truly distinctive and dynamic city. 

I also ask Rick about his time photographing in Italy. Earlier on the day of our interview, I went to an exhibit at the Académie des Beaux-Arts called ‘The Italians’ by French photographer Bruno Barbey. He traveled around Italy in the 1960s  and said, “Italians give themselves freely to being photographed, contrary to other people.” Rick has to agree with him. “Italians are very photogenic. They just seem to be indifferent if you’re taking their picture. Some French people, I notice, are a little reluctant to be photographed. You would never imagine finding an Italian who would refuse having their picture taken.” Rick has a particular fondness for Sicily. “Like Marseille, Sicily is a cross-cultural mixture, and at the same time very very Italian.” His collection Neo-Neorealism has photos from a road trip down the eastern coast, from Padua down to the heel of Italy. “The further south we went, the more we loved it. There were just incredible scenes. On that road trip, I was looking for a neorealist look that I could replicate. You know, those middle aged guys talking to their momma and those kinds of things, and you find that it’s really there.”

Polignano A Mare

Rick doesn’t always have his camera on him, he normally plans to shoot on a particular day since lugging around his camera gets pretty heavy. Though, as life would have it, he says he often sees the ideal shot when he doesn’t have his camera. “I was just going to the grocery store about three days ago and walking up the street in front of the Monde Arabe and I saw a shot that… I could’ve kicked myself! I didn’t have my camera. For whatever reason, it was this woman leaning against a lamppost with a lit cigarette, smoke coming up, reading a newspaper, and no one reads a newspaper these days! The sun hitting her right in the forehead…” 

The shooting, he says, is just a matter of luck. “I take my camera and I go to places where I think I’m gonna see the kind of thing I want to see, I go at the time of day when there's the light that I like. If I see it, I take a shot of it but I may not see exactly what I want. I can’t readily articulate what I’m looking for, it’s a matter of instinct that makes me get my camera up and shoot when I just see what’s going on in front of me.” 

Rick and Sandy are settled in Paris, though they maintain their connection with D.C. and visit every summer. Touchstone Gallery was the first place Rick continuously showed his photos and he sees being a member as a very big accomplishment. During my own month of living in Paris this summer while working virtually for Touchstone, I relished in the relative slowness of Parisian city life coming from the valued daily rituals, the balance of work and pleasure. I think the beauty of this slowness is captured in these words of Rick’s, “sometimes I set up in a place, look at this shadow, look at that glancing light over there, this is a nice urban scene, I’m just going to wait here for a while and see who comes by.”

- Words and gallery photos by Emma Cunningham-Bradshaw; inline photos by Rick Braswell

An interview with Elaine Florimonte

Gallery Assistant Jackie Soto speaks with artist Elaine Florimonte about her art and her solo exhibition Lost & Found.

JS: While we were both sitting in the gallery together, I had the amazing opportunity to talk with Elaine about her solo exhibition, her art style, and about teaching. Here are some snippets of our conversation.

JS: How do you approach the use of color in your work?

EF: I tend to use the same palette in most of my works. You can see in the smaller pieces that I have that there is some inclusion of new colors, but the old ones will make their way in. But I just gravitate towards these grays, and it’s so much easier to use them than to fight it.

JS: Could you describe your painting process?

EF: I begin new work with intuitive drawing and blocking in with color. I really just start painting and let the process guide me. Sometimes I have an idea of what the composition will be, but more often than not, I just paint and look.

JS: How do you form an idea, and then transport it to the canvas?

EF: I am inspired by nature and the things that happen during any given day. I see light patterns or proportions that inspired me. Sometimes I grab them with my phone and use bits and pieces in my compositions, but I don’t paint from a specific image. I draw a lot too and I think my work reflects the value that I use in my sketches.

JS: What themes or concepts are you exploring in your current series of paintings?

EF: The paintings are mostly landscapes, because that is what makes me happy. But the theme – we’re at a point in our culture where change is dramatic. It’s lost and found, its things that are lost and being found now that put us into the direction we are going on. I include some pages from my personal drawings, old letters, notebook paper, things that have been lost and have now been found.

I am also playing around with the idea of dislocation and separation, by showing the interior and exterior views.

JS: What is your favorite painting and why?

EF: If you mean in this show... My favorite painting in this show is “This Side of the Glass II.” It feels a little like a pivot piece. I’m not sure what it is about it, but I feel really satisfied when I look at it.

If you mean of all time, that is like asking me which finger is my favorite... I need them all! :) My current favorite painting is Rod and Reel by Andrew Wyeth. It is everything. The design and composition makes me salivate and the abstraction in the surface quality, I mean... And that red string. What the heck!!! I love every inch of it.

JS: How has teaching art informed your process?

EF: I always learn from my students. There’s a generational gap between us, I’m in my 50s and they’re all under 20. They’ll come up and ask me questions and it would completely change what I do – based on a question. I teach using the socratic method, asking them questions until they come up with the answer themselves. One of the most powerful things is being in a constant creative space.

JS: How do you decide when a painting is finished?

EF: You feel it. It depends on the piece, whether it's planned or not. But it is intuitive. I tend to lose track of the piece, so it's a feeling when it's done.

JS: Where do you see your art going next? What are your plans for the future?

EF: I am not sure. I am following my gut right now.

*****

See Elaine Florimonte’s Lost & Found at Touchstone Gallery through December 3.

Click here to read a review of the exhibition in the Washington Post.

An interview with Setareh Pourrajabi

Read an interview with Touchstone member and Persian Perspectives: Celebrating Iranian Women Artists of DC artist Setareh Pourrajabi and Touchstone Intern Emma Cunningham-Bradshaw about Pourrajabi’s pieces in the exhibition and her artistic influences.

See Persian Perspectives through July 2, 2023.

ECB: You currently have two pieces on display at Touchstone, could you tell me about ‘Rebecca’ and ‘The Notice’, the characters or people in these pieces? 

SP: These two artworks belong to the Forbidden Zone collection and explore women’s relationships with themselves and effects from their surroundings. I think the woman embodied in these artworks is the real woman. The figures are uncovered physically, yet there is a lot going on in their minds. In these pieces, the women are not in comfortable positions, they are broken figures. I see women like them, beautiful and still struggling. Woman can state her independence and professional success but at the end of the day she is a mother, she is a wife, she has to take care of so many things. Here are the oppositions: she wants to relax but she doesn’t. The pieces also move in a circular fashion: there is always movement, never rest. But the women are happy too; the bright colors say as much. This is how we are as women, we are happy yet we bear the weight of so many responsibilities.

ECB: You have varying degrees of realism in your art, what inspires you to produce art in these different styles and techniques? 

SP: I started producing art when I was 10, drawing fruits, vegetables, flowers, then faces. I got bored after a couple of years and so I went to watercolor which was so exciting. Again, that was boring after a couple of years. I was successful as a watercolor artist, yet I wanted to create something for myself and watercolor did not provide me with the creative space I craved. I moved to oil color, and then I fell in love with acrylic. At 20, I learned from a very good teacher in Iran, and his class really propelled a revolution in my mind. I was exposed to so many things that were all new to me! Now, expressionism with acrylic paint is what satisfies me most, though this might change in the future. I also love photography since I have a passion to find people’s beauty, at different angles and positions. 

ECB: You name Hegel as one of your influences, can you tell me more about his influence? 

SP: Hegel’s theory of dialectic means there is a continuous back and forth motion. There is a space in between these oppositions and in my art I want to capture what occurs in that in-between area. The Notice, for example, asks you to question where the movement is between the two figures, in which direction it’s going. 

ECB: Do you have other influences who are not primarily visual artists, whether these be philosophers, poets or otherwise? 

SP: Definitely, many Persian poets have influenced me. I read Forough Farokhzad’s poetry everyday as a teenager because she wasn’t traditional, she was so brave, she brought a new vision for women’s life in Iran. Also important to me are poets Saeed Soheyli and Khayam Saady, though there is a long list of others.

ECB: The title of the show at Touchstone is ‘Persian Perspectives: Celebrating Iranian Women Artists of DC,’ what does Persian Perspectives’ mean to you? And do you feel you have a dual identity of being Iranian and a DC-dweller? 

SP: As an artist, I am trying to show that we as Persians can be free too, we can talk about our ideas and goals. D.C. is the most important political city in the world, so if you are a Persian artist and show your art here, attention goes to the situation in Iran. Being an artist in Iran is a very political action, many artists in the US cannot go back to Iran as they could be jailed. Still, I see a very beautiful prospect for Iranians. Throughout history we have always managed to keep our independent identity, culture and language so I think there is a bright future for us of union, peace and happiness.