Interview with Artist Julia Whitney Barnes at Brookfield Place

Listen to visual artist Julia Whitney Barnes discuss her new body of work, Nocturnal Nature, exhibited at Brookfield Place in Lower Manhattan from January 11 through March 12, 2021. The work draws inspiration from the architectural splendor of the Cesar Pelli-designed atrium windows in Brookfield Place’s Winter Garden, as well as the space’s interior grove of palm trees, which was designed by Diana Balmori, the late wife of Cesar Pelli. Composed of a series of framed works on paper that combine watercolor and gouache paintings on cyanotype printed watercolor paper, the imagery pairs botanical arrangements with the geometric patterns of the property’s grand atrium windows, revealing various skies alluding to different seasons and times of day. The Washingtonia robusta palm trees planted in the Winter Garden appear to grow right out of the floor, and similarly, Whitney Barnes’ botanicals burst from the implied floor patterns in her artwork. Particularly during these cold winter months, Whitney Barnes’ incorporation of natural elements within her work-sun, flowers, plants, water, and air- brings the promise of spring to this interior hallway, as well as a sense of growth and transformation. Curated by Common Ground Arts. More info at BFPLNY.com/JWB

[@lesleyware]

This is great, Julia! I hope to see the show before it ends in March. CONGRAT!!!