While our gallery’s doors are closed temporarily due to the Covid-19 Pandemic, Catherine Couturier Gallery is pleased to announce a blog series entitled Safe in the Studio featuring a new gallery artist each week. Our artists will share behind-the-scenes information about specific pieces and offer insight into their artist practice. With each blog post, three works will be highlighted and discounted 20% for one week following the post’s publishing date.
Last week, Catherine Couturier Gallery featured gallery artist Mabry Campbell. This week, the gallery is pleased to present the following post by gallery artist Wendi Schneider:
As I enter my fifth week of sheltering in place, I find refuge in my work as I always have. Solitude is no stranger to me. I crave it. I lived alone in my twenties and thirties, thrive on seclusion, and am profoundly grateful to have a home I love with an office and studio.
Pictured As the Snow Melts, Denver, CO, 2020
My practice has not shifted measurably in the time of Covid-19. I turn to nature to dwell in serenity amidst the chaos, for it is there I find sanctuary and respite. I am transfixed and transformed when I capture impressions of fleeting grace in the natural world. Calmed by fluid, organic shapes reminiscent of the elegant whiplash lines of art nouveau botanicals, I photograph intuitively. As Anais Nin and others have written, “We don’t see things as they are, we see things as we are.” In photographing and making work, I find focus and clarity of vision. I am centered and grounded, and the worries of the world are obscured.
My reverence for the natural world is rooted in childhood fancies, as I sought reverie and solace beneath the sinuous, swaying limbs of a majestic weeping willow in Memphis. My interpretations also reflect the lush landscapes of New Orleans and New York.
For the past two decades, I have been based in Denver. My recent work has been inspired by walks with my dog Truffle. While I eagerly explore new territories, I have not ventured far as of late and the images I share here were made within a few blocks of my home.
Little Black Angel, Denver, CO, 2019
My preferred time is dusk - I luxuriate in the muted light and subdued sounds, the deceleration, and the evening’s magical melancholia. I savor the stillness and revel in the novelty of each day’s metamorphosis. I am mesmerized by the mercurial minutiae altered by capricious breezes on familiar paths, lured by the beauty. Perhaps, I look more deeply than I speak.
My appreciation for collecting originates in my childhood. The most precious times with my mother were spent antiquing. In the 1980s I began collecting turn-of-the-twentieth century frames - mostly Art Nouveau, Arts & Crafts and Secessionist. In the last few years, I have collected them in earnest in preparation for my current project – The Patina Collection. My goal for this new year is to fill the collection with my work from the ongoing States of Grace series, perhaps devoting a few to vintage photographs.
The Gossamer Threads of Dreams, 2019
9 1/2 x 7 inch antique Art Nouveau wooden table top pie crust frame from The Patina Collection
Piece framed as shown available with Safe in the Studio pricing.
Perhaps the new normal will allow others to slow down and discover a heightened appreciation for the bountiful graces in our vulnerable environment and what is at stake of being lost. We can hope.
To learn more about Wendi Schneider and see more of her work, please visit her Artist Page. Each piece is made with pigment ink on vellum or kozo paper over white gold leaf.
The following three prints are available to purchase with a 20% discount in each size for the next week. The discount will no longer be applicable on orders made after Thursday, April 16, 2020 at 11:59PM.
As the Snow Melts, Denver, CO, 2020
8 x 4 7/8 inches on vellum, edition of 10 - $600 ($750)
16 x 9 ½ inches vellum or kozo, edition of 5 - $1,200 ($1,500)
20 x 12 inches on kozo - edition of 5 - $2,000 ($2,500)
Little Black Angel, Denver, CO, 2019
8 x 6 inches on vellum, edition of 10 - $600 ($750)
14 5/8 x 11 inches vellum, edition of 5 - $1,200 ($1,500)
20 x 15 inches on kozo - edition of 5 - $2,000 ($2,500)
The Gossamer Threads of Dreams, Denver, CO, 2019
8 x 6 inches on vellum, edition of 10, including Patina Collection frame - $760 ($950)
8 x 6 inches on vellum, edition of 10 - $600 ($750)
14 ½ x 11 inches kozo, edition of 5 - $1,200 ($1,500)
20 x 15 inches on kozo - edition of 5 - $2,000 ($2,500)
For purchases or further inquiries, email us at gallery@catherinecouturier.com.