Italy was the last place writer and artist Marina Brown visited last summer, pre-pandemic and free from the lockdowns that have halted and haunted international travel.
Brown spent most of her time conducting research for her most recent book, “The Orphan of Pitigliano,” which was released this spring and is now a finalist for the Florida Authors & Publishers Association Book Awards. Brown also does freelance writing for the Tallahassee Democrat.
Brown loves stepping outside the familiar to generate her works. Though she is grounded in Tallahassee for now, quarantine has only increased her artistic fervor and output. In addition to being recognized as a novelist, Brown is a prolific visual artist and she has accomplished an impressive feat. This summer, her artworks will be exhibited simultaneously in four different galleries. She’s kicking the season off with a solo show at LeMoyne Arts titled “Color of Light: Retrospective and New Works.”
“I’ve been in a frenzy,” says Brown. “It’s been a lot of late nights, but the more you’re doing it, the freer the flow comes to you. I’ve felt pretty inspired of late.”
Three paintings appeared in a week and a half, accompanied by the booming operatic tenor of Luciano Pavarotti in the background.
“The power of his voice keeps me painting and it’s wonderful…it’s exhilarating,” adds Brown.
The LeMoyne exhibition uses all five galleries with more than 80 original artworks on display. Brown presents both new and retrospective works that range in media from pastels to watercolor. She’s divided her work into three sections — tableaus of the “deep south” and African American life, portraiture of faces seen on her travels to Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Brazil, and finally, dancers in motion.
Brown says she often has a hard time finding the right paper for an idea, so she has tested numerous surfaces for this series. She layered pastel on cardboard to combat the duller coloring. For another work, she grabbed red sandpaper from the garage to sketch a crew of hip-hop dancers and make them pop.
One portrait of a young African American man, titled “Get Behind Me Satan,” was created on Italian placemat paper that she brought back from Italy. While its ochre coloring easily compliments her chalky pastels, she chose to use watercolors instead.
“When I finished, and as the paint dried, it wrinkled the paper in a certain way which caused these radiant beams to come off of his head,” says Brown. “He just became sainted right then and there.”
These experiments have led Brown into new territory. Unlike her painting in COCA’s “Creative Tallahassee” exhibit — which is displayed online and features Bradfordville Blues Club’s swinging honky tonkers — her paintings for the 32nd Annual Art in Gadsden exhibition takes a more equine approach.
One work depicts a gaucho herding horses in Argentina. Brown used a technique that spreads salt alongside the watercolor pigment to create tiny constellations in the background. Rather than rub off the salt when it’s dry, she leaves it to give her work another texture altogether.
“I had never painted horses before,” says Brown. “The salt looks like dust and dirt is there as these stampeding horses go by. It dissolves and draws paint towards it and repels it.”
Brown feels a constant push and pull between her many mediums. She plays with painting motion and story just as frequently as she does in her writing. Her show, “Text & Testimony” at the Anderson Brickler Gallery Annex, will run concurrently with the show at LeMoyne and features illustrations and sketches from her work as a writer-in-residence at the Tallahassee International airport.
Pieces also include archival sketches from photographs of former slaves and dancing women. She hopes viewers will reflect on what life was like for these men and women. Among her favorites is a young man heading to court a woman with bouquet in hand, and the shy and tentative emotions at play on their faces.
“It’s really a testimony to how with written stories you’re getting something through the author’s point of view, but with an image you’re having to do the emotional work of seeing a painting and reacting to it,” says Brown. “I hope people will resonate with what they see and see that we are all the same, even if the world does not treat us the same.”
As each gallery showing Brown’s work begins their soft re-openings, visitors must make reservations ahead of time, and adhere to mask and distancing policies. Specific procedures and operations for each gallery can be found online.
Brown is delighted to be juggling these many openings after months of relative quiet. Now, with so many paintings out of the house, she says her husband has already commissioned a new abstract piece to hang above the sofa. She is happy to oblige.
“Art is a worthy diversion yes, but it can, like a good story, lead you down wonderful paths,” says Brown, who is striking a balance between heavier works and moments of respite. “I would say not only for the artist, but for all of us, to pick up some pencil or paper or crayons and let what’s inside come out. Sometimes it will be lovely and surprising.”
For information on the 32nd Annual Art in Gadsden please visit https://ift.tt/3e1vi3o. To learn about the Anderson Brickler Gallery’s “Text and Testimony” exhibit, please visit https://ift.tt/38v9mMU. To visit Creative Tallahassee Online, visit https://ift.tt/31IZTQP.
Amanda Sieradzki is the feature writer for the Council on Culture & Arts. COCA is the capital area’s umbrella agency for arts and culture (www.tallahasseearts.org).
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