Our virtual exhibit for November features two stunning series of images by Page Simon. The first are variations on early botanical drawings done in 3 different media. The second is a set of 12 paintings with a movie made from them.
NOTES ON THE ARTIST
After studying Fine Art in college and graduate school in Claremont, California, Page Simon worked as a graphic designer, illustrator and photographer, primarily with her own studio, in California and New York. She taught in the Art Department of Rockland Community College for 25 years. After retirement, she has been working in a variety of media, enjoying freedom from deadlines, client expectations and meetings. She lives in Piermont, New York, and Mabou, Nova Scotia.
FROM THE ARTIST
BOTANICALS
When I was a teenager, the mystery writer Margery Allingham gave me a Victorian lady’s sketchbook. That began my fascination with botanical drawings, although I never personally took to that aesthetic for myself. Instead, one year, I took up translating them into other media I had been working in. Here there are three in each of three media: Computer drawing using Adobe Illustrator, acrylic painting, and metal leaf on slate panels.
THE HORSE IN MOTION
In 1878, Eadweard Muybridge devised a series of cameras attached to trip wires that triggered photographs of a running horse. The experiment was sponsored by Leland Stanford to prove (and thus win a bet) that all four hooves of a horse will be off the ground at once during a gallop. I did a series of 12 paintings in acrylic with metal leaf based on his images. Using digital photos of the paintings, I made this little gif that shows the horse in motion.
