Chalk Pastel
FEBRUARY & MARCH 2020
Lee Schauer's primary goal for her 2 month residency is to complete several large size paintings with oil pastel as a collaboration with her daughter who wrote a children's book about a beaver that tormented the family over a summer season. Lee completed several portraits of the chickens that star in the book as well as self-portraits and one of her daughter. She also got inspired to update a portfolio and evaluate artist statement. "I often wonder about the mechanics of seeing and marvel at the buffer between physical reality and how our brains make sense of it. What are the cues that help us see space and dimension? How does our brain distinguish between positive and negative space? What happens when negative space is given as much attention as the objects that create it? In my work, I often parse out and highlight the shapes and spaces in between. I play with flattening and enhancing, challenge myself to see beyond what my brain is quick to recognize, and give form and substance to parts of the world that most often go unnoticed." Unfortunately, Lee's residency was cut short by the Covid-19 pandemic when she had to step back into real world in order to assist her kids in their exits from college closings. She will return hopefully someday to work on more projects. And that will give her another season on the property. One of the inspirations she had was walking to the river and then painting.
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