13 August 2014

house soul


Ever since I started working on a particular project-a sprawling ranch with Frank Lloyd Wright history, I've been intrigued by my client's collection of art. One piece- a large landscape, immediately caught my eye, and  it's been in my mind to write about. Never capturing the perfect image-always focusing on tasks at hand, it eluded me.

Just this week I thought about the landscape again-and went back to the last photographs I took-discovering, along with the pumpkins, part of my intrigue is in its reflection.




Artist Nancy VanNoppen states in her portfolio: These works employ a variety of media and techniques including paper collage, film, and digital negatives that are used in layers to construct a scene. Their large format (typically in the 40” x 55” range) allows viewers to examine details up close in addition to appreciating the landscape as a whole. As a result, they present the landscape as both a single scene and complex construction, evoking a sense of simultaneous unity and multiplicity as is often experienced in an environment.
Some of the landscapes are commissioned. Commissions are catered to a specific site (usually private property) and reflect unique characteristics of that environment or location.

Nancy provides us with that perfect image on her artist's website.



To my eye, VanHoppen beautifully captures the house and surrounding landscape, there's just enough for the eye to appreciate, and for one who knows the house, to distinguish. As I scanned my pictures again, I began to see them for what they really are. Pictures reflecting the soul of the house, ever changing, with the faint image of a lamp, a table, a chair, and a child flitting through the trees.




Rooms beyond reflected, even a faint mountain that lies some distance from the house is caught inside the landscape. Given the time of day, the season- when those chairs are filled with people, the piece must be alive with movement-filled with transience, making an impression on its surface.



Next time I'm at the house, I'll look at VanHoppen's work with a new appreciation,and there is no telling what I'll see.











6 comments:

  1. Very much like 3D Claudia Kunin photographs which are in the Getty, SMITHSONIAN and Annenberg collections.

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  2. Ah, This is vintage Little A. From the heart.

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  3. A client, artist, left me one of her collage art pieces in her will. It's in my bedroom, and will be in the nursing home with me, if allowed a single item.

    How I wish she were here, to show her this post and talk about it, over a good long lunch. Then walk her acreage not talking, exclaiming, or blurting out a new layer to be done. This, is how good gardens are improved.

    Garden & Be Well, XO Tara

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    Replies
    1. Tara, this piece holds pride of place in a vast living and dining space. some art pieces stay with us-and do memories of those near, dear, and gone with the passing of time. thanks for dropping in, pgt

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