ARCHITECTURE FROM NATURE

The Architecture from Nature Series was inspired by the Basilica of Antoni Gaudí’s Sagrada Família in Barcelona, Spain. I explored the interior of this magnificent structure and Gaudí’s ability to render architecture from pre-existing elements found in nature. I focused on architecture as a blueprint while I challenged myself to take a deeper look at Gaudí’s techniques. I found Gaudí's structures fascinating and after my visit, I marveled at what I could learn from Gaudí if I explored the Sagrada Família through my stylized abstract methods. 

The amount of time I spent on this series is trivial in comparison to the 134 years and counting that the Sagrada Família has been in construction. I didn’t want to leave the space that Gaudí had created. I desired to keep a sense of the aura I felt from the stained-glass lighting and colors that filtered through the space, the pillars that mimicked tree trunks and traversed towards a canopy of color. I have never been surrounded by so much stone, yet felt outside. Ultimately, working to exist in Gaudi’s space led me to design a space of my own.  

My photographs of the Basilica of the Sagrada Família were the starting point for each work. The 14 studies reveal the beginning, development and the process of my artistic explorations. Created in numerical order, I began with a mixed media approach on paper. After the studies, I moved to canvas using acrylic paint and then re-approached mixed media on a larger scale. Only a selection of the studies evolved into paintings and large scale drawings. 

As the Fundació Junta Constructora del Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família states, “the Sagrada Família is an international centre for spirituality which, in an exceptional setting, invites people of all backgrounds and faiths to share in a sense of life base on love, harmony, good, generosity and peace.”