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Flourish Online Magazine | Summer 2007 |
Faculty Spotlight: Joe Remillard
Sunshine, Art and Italy
By Willena Moye
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| "Tuscan Morning 3200 " by Joe Remillard |
Whether the paintings are of construction sites or family gatherings on a porch, bright, clear sunshine illuminates Associate Professor of Art Joe Remillard’s work. His use of light is reminiscent of illustrator N.C. Wyeth’s.
“I admire all the Wyeths,” Remillard says. “Andrew is one of my favorite painters, although I don’t use his palette.” Brooding, muted scenes are not part of who Remillard is. “Andrew Wyeth paints his world and I paint my world. But my palette is more in line with Andrew’s father, N.C., or son, Jamie.”
“I select those images that give me pleasure, that I want to be reminded of on rainy days. I look at construction sites as reminders of man’s ability to create and achieve. And I find a sun-drenched porch to be beautiful. It’s something that gives me food for my soul. That’s a place that I would want to be, so that’s why I paint it.”
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| "Toolshed" by Joe Remillard |
Remillard uses his paintings to record moments in time that he wants to remember, but “I don’t want my stuff to look like a photograph. I can take a picture. There are a lot of variations in realism—some leaning more towards impressionism, some leaning more towards abstraction.” Remillard is not one of those artists.
“Then there are others who are naturalists, who are trying to represent with a fair degree of accuracy what they are looking at in front of them, but who are also conscious of the brushwork. My paintings are my selective recreation of reality. I select the parts of reality that I think are important and I use them as a focal point.”
In the art classes he teaches, Remillard imparts the idea that the technique needed to capture realistic moments is important. “There was a generation of artists, post-World War II, who were simply not taught technique. However, things have changed in the last 10 or 15 years, and technique is being respected, as it should be.”
Remillard teaches respect for technique on campus and also in Montepulciano, Italy, where he teaches study abroad courses in art appreciation and drawing. In fall 2008, KSU will offer its first full semester study abroad program in Montepulciano, thanks in part to Remillard’s leadership.
In Italy, Remillard uses the world around him to instruct students.
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| "Blue Highway" by Joe Remillard |
“Most of my instruction is on-site. I take students to the countryside to draw. I take them into museums, into the markets. They pull out their sketchbooks and they sketch what’s in front of them.”
Remillard’s own Montepulciano-inspired work is being featured in an exhibition through September 29 at Trinity Gallery in Atlanta.
“Italy is the heart of western art. It is where art was reborn in the Renaissance. If a student has never been to Europe, it should be the first stop.”
Click here for more information about Joe Remillard's work in Italy...