Artist Profile
-- Salt Lake City
Kamille Corry:
Tradition Alive
by Mark Dicosola
When it comes to the European tradition of
the old masters, classical realism is rarely seen and almost
lost in the State of Utah. With these techniques and methods
of training and artistic expression so rare, I am grateful to have
found Kamille Corry. After studying classical painting techniques
for years in Europe and the States, Corry is now offering the same
opportunity to serious artists in Utah, with the opening of her new
atelier in Salt Lake City.
As I enter Corry Studios there is a pigment-grinding table
with glass bottles of colored powder and earth ready for
mixing. Next to the table is a bookshelf packed with retrospectives
of the old masters: Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Rodin,
to name a few. Just beyond are numerous wooden easels ready and
waiting for figure studies. There are plaster casts of classical
sculptures, torsos, heads and hands. Student drawings of the sculptures
are framed on the wall. The draperies are open to natural,
western sunlight. Kamille Corry sits on a model riser
and prepares a mahogany panel with linseed oil. Jazz is playing.
The true romance of creation comes alive here, inspired by generations
past and taught from one generation to the next. The tradition
of the old masters, the techniques of mastery, the dedication of
passion, and the foundation of art is alive in Salt Lake City.
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Since early childhood, Kamille Corry knew
she was going to be a painter. Growing up in Ogden,
she always sensed something missing in Utah with respect to
art. After going to Europe right out of high school, she became
fascinated by the history of art there. She was surrounded
by it. Returning to Utah to begin a four- year scholarship
at the U’s art department, she became disenchanted by the program.
She remembers thinking that when she was enrolled in local community
art classes at a frame shop in Ogden she learned more useful
skills there than at the University. She says, “My teacher taught
me perspective drawing, and he’d put something in front of me to
draw from nature, render it, a three dimensional object and all of
its perspective. I loved it and I could just sit there and draw
forever.”
Corry ended up quitting the University’s
program and then spending time doing a lot of abstract, modernist
expressionist pieces and experimenting with different mediums.
She says, “ It was fun, but I never felt creative.
Oddly enough, because I grew up believing that abstract, expressionistic
work was always more creative than anything realistic or representational.”
She took some classes at the Salt Lake Art Center in etching
and lithography where she realized the importance of skills acquired
in her career as a painter. She realized the importance of
learning a craft and learning skills necessary to express a vision.
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Organization Profile-- Salt Lake City
Cultural Shift Downtown
This
weekend marks some shifts for the cultural life of Salt Lake City.
On Saturday, February 8th, the Salt Lake City's Main library
will celebrate the move to its new building. The City's library
system has long provided great opportunities for viewing Utah art.
The new library's inaugural exhibition will feature the art
of two mainstays of the visual arts community, Denis and Bonnie Phillips.
The library's move also provides an opportunity
for expansion of another visual art form, documentary photography.
The library's former home will soon be occupied by a number
of organizations, including the Center for Documentary Arts.
Exhibition Review - Salt Lake City
35
x 35 Wrap Up
The exhibition began with
an empty space -- one of the best in Salt Lake City. Artspace
Forum Gallery offered Artists of Utah the opportunity to create
a unique exhibition featuring Utah artists 35 or under. With
support from the Salt Lake City Arts Council and other sponsors,
35 x 35 was a great success. Despite the fact that the exhibition
took place during the busy holiday season, a record number of visitors
came to the gallery, oftentimes waiting at the door fist thing in the
morning.
35 x 35 became much
more than just an other exhibition. With the involvement
and support of the exhibiting artists as well as other artists and
members of the art community, the exhibition was an example of what can
be accomplished when the art community is brought together.
The opening eveing, on December 18th, proved a unique
oportunity for artists from all across the Wasatch front to interact,
meet and discuss. Thanks to the efforts of exhibition coordinator
Nance Thunell the end of the show was equally exciting due to the mentorship
evening on January 17th.
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