2008 Woodie Awards
St. John's Professor of Fine Arts Susan Cottle recently displayed 33 paintings on the walls of the second floor of the St. John's Manhattan campus at 101 Murray Street.
Luca Pataro, Staff Writer
Issue date: 3/28/07Section: News
St. John's Professor of Fine Arts Susan Cottle recently displayed 33 paintings on the walls of the second floor of the St. John's Manhattan campus at 101 Murray Street.
The exhibition, called "Turrets, Towers and Alpine Terrain," opened on March 10 and will last until May 12. It features mostly oils and gouaches on paper that is, for the most part, tabloid-size or smaller. The paintings depict rural landscapes with castles and churches on the Italian countryside.
Cottle, who has been painting for 20 years, said she considers herself a "representational painter," heavily influenced by her Italian heritage. She has been traveling to Italy for the past five years during July and August to teach at workshops sponsored by the St. John's Study Abroad Program. Cottle has also had independent workshops in Lazio, Umbria, Toscana and Trentino Alto Adige.
The exhibition featured mostly Italian landscapes with a mixture of cityscapes from Prague. The architectural representation of buildings and churches of the Czech capital in her paintings was mainly inspired by sketches and drawings she previously made in her studio, according to Cottle. The Italian landscapes, on the other hand, are purely realistic in nature and painted "on the spot," giving a sense of vividness to the settings.
"In smaller villages, I loved working with the organic aspect of the landscapes, like the light and the surroundings," Cottle said. In her statement "Pinzolo/ Prague: Bell towers and Domes in Context," Cottle stated that working in Italy had given her the opportunity to realize just how close the Italian people are to their churches.
"I am interested in how the Italian town's identity is shaped through her church and bell tower, and the human connection based on a person's sense of home, scale, history and spirituality," she wrote.
She said she liked depicting and studying the bell towers because they gave her more architectural lines and a certain angle that fascinated her.
The exhibition, called "Turrets, Towers and Alpine Terrain," opened on March 10 and will last until May 12. It features mostly oils and gouaches on paper that is, for the most part, tabloid-size or smaller. The paintings depict rural landscapes with castles and churches on the Italian countryside.
Cottle, who has been painting for 20 years, said she considers herself a "representational painter," heavily influenced by her Italian heritage. She has been traveling to Italy for the past five years during July and August to teach at workshops sponsored by the St. John's Study Abroad Program. Cottle has also had independent workshops in Lazio, Umbria, Toscana and Trentino Alto Adige.
The exhibition featured mostly Italian landscapes with a mixture of cityscapes from Prague. The architectural representation of buildings and churches of the Czech capital in her paintings was mainly inspired by sketches and drawings she previously made in her studio, according to Cottle. The Italian landscapes, on the other hand, are purely realistic in nature and painted "on the spot," giving a sense of vividness to the settings.
"In smaller villages, I loved working with the organic aspect of the landscapes, like the light and the surroundings," Cottle said. In her statement "Pinzolo/ Prague: Bell towers and Domes in Context," Cottle stated that working in Italy had given her the opportunity to realize just how close the Italian people are to their churches.
"I am interested in how the Italian town's identity is shaped through her church and bell tower, and the human connection based on a person's sense of home, scale, history and spirituality," she wrote.
She said she liked depicting and studying the bell towers because they gave her more architectural lines and a certain angle that fascinated her.
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