Brittany R. Gilbert
Brittany graduated from Union College in Schenectady, NY, earning a BA in Studio Fine Arts. She later attended the Mount Gretna School of Art in Lancaster County, PA, for its intensive six-week summer program focused on perceptual landscape painting. In 2018, she earned her MFA from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a concentration in painting. Since graduate school, she has been an artist-in-residence at Salem Artworks in Salem, VT; the Mount Gretna School of Art (Four Pillars Residency) in Mount Gretna, PA; and Vermont Studio Centers in Johnson, VT.
Her work has been shown across the country, including at Prince Street Gallery in New York, NY; Susquehanna Museum of Art in Harrisburg, PA; Manifest Gallery in Cincinnati, OH; Intersect Art Center in St. Louis, MO; Coconino Center for the Arts in Flagstaff, AZ; and Site:Brooklyn Gallery.
Grounded by outdoor experiences, she has explored landscapes from the coastline of Rhode Island to the mountains of Colorado. She is currently an Assistant Professor of Fine Arts at Francis Marion University in Florence, SC.
Artist Statement
Building upon the history of observational landscape painting, I consider its relevance in an age of time-based media, mass imagery, and instant information. Embracing human limitations, I explore the complexities of first-hand experiences and the definition of familiarity. Through sequential and perceptual landscape painting, my practice creates an archive of sustained engagement with perpetually fluctuating environments.
Outside, there is so much information and many variables beyond my control. How do these observations enhance my understanding and attune my senses to nuances?
Standing in the same spot, I paint the same space again and again. With each noticeable change in its appearance, I begin a new panel. I cannot and do not want to capture every detail. I am interested in shape shifts within my subject, as well as the immediacy of my response. The resulting images from this process reflect the pace at which changes occur.
Sustained engagement through painting allows me to be open and ready to respond to the unexpected in seemingly mundane or cliché subjects. Endurance leads to a rhythmic quality in the physical act of painting. As I work, I do not compare the current painting to the previous one. I am fully absorbed in the present. I have faith that the process will result in a genuine record of my experience, however subtle or dramatic the visual shifts.
Painting the same size within a series guarantees that there is minimal disruption to the narrative flow when I present these landscapes in their entirety as a story of my encounters with a particular place. Series are installed chronologically as a singular piece—often in grid-like formats, contrasting the irregularity of nature.
