Today we’d like to introduce you to Natalie Featherston.
Every artist has a unique story. Can you briefly walk us through yours?
I came to the art scene late in life. I’d been a professional cellist and had moved to New York City to pursue work and a master’s degree when I realized I couldn’t spend the rest of my life sitting in an orchestra playing Mahler symphonies. I dropped out of school, got a job waiting tables, and decided if I was going to totally ruin my life I might as well go whole hog and signed up for night classes at the School of Visual Arts. I’d always wanted to learn to draw and paint, and that seemed like as good a time as any.
I took classes at basically every art school in New York City, and eventually found my true teacher, Michael Aviano. I did a semi-private apprenticeship with him for six years, which was very rigorous academic training based on the French atelier model of the late 19th century. After I left school I started painting full steam ahead and didn’t look back. Several moves across the northeast landed my husband and myself in Providence, RI, a city I love and which has a thriving art community for all types of creatives.
Please tell us about your art.
I make small, highly detailed oil paintings called trompe l’oeil, which means literally “to fool the eye” in French. The point of this genre is to fool the viewer into thinking what’s painted is actually real. Most people are familiar with trompe l’oeil through murals or the decorative arts- think of a painting of a window on the side of a building that looks so real you feel like you can walk through it– that’s trompe l’oeil. However, the history of trompe l’oeil painting in fine art dates all the way back to the ancient Greeks; it’s a very well established genre of realism.
My work is inspired by whimsy, humor, and storytelling. Trompe l’oeil naturally lends itself to humor- the joke is between the artist and viewer when they discover the painting is an elaborate deception. I think sly humor reinforces that idea- my work doesn’t take itself too seriously, there are no big Art Ideals and Heroic Mythological Struggles here. The technical aspect of painting is obviously very important- you have to work hard to make things look so realistic that they pop off the canvas. But I also love creating work where there’s a story and something is happening- some sort of action. Recently I’ve created these little dioramas inside cardboard boxes, and then I’ve painted the whole scene, box and all. It’s like a stage, its own contained space where things happen.
Do you have any advice for other artists? Any lessons you wished you learned earlier?
Of course! With all the classical training I’ve had, I wish someone had told me I didn’t really need to do four years of cast drawing in a dark room to be a good painter!
I think it’s vitally important to have art friends- people you connect with and can turn to. Being a part of a community- even if it’s online- is so important. I rely heavily on my circle of art friends- they know what you’re going through and support you in a way that other people can’t quite understand. Get out on social media and find your tribe- go to shows and openings and meet other artists. Don’t be shy- I often receive messages through my website from up and coming artists and I thoroughly enjoy chatting with them about art and the art business.
How or where can people see your work? How can people support your work?
I’m represented by several art galleries across the country- Meyer Gallery in Santa Fe, and Maxwell Alexander in Los Angles. Here in the Boston area I show with Clark Galleries in Lincoln, MA and with Costal Contemporary in Newport, Rhode Island.
I’m very active on Instagram. I love Instagram! I post everyday– things I’m working on or struggling with, things that are happening in the studio, or truly horrible events like that time I had to cut ten wood panels on a tight deadline out in my driveway and my workbench broke and then it started snowing… it’s the everyday things that make up the life of a working artist.
Contact Info:
- Address: Providence, Rhode Island
- Website: http://www.nataliefeatherston.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nfeatherston_fine_art/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/natalie.featherston
Image Credit:
All credits go to Natalie Featherston
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