Welcome to College of the Canyons Virtual Gallery

We are delighted to bring you this exhibition of recent works by artist Brooke Sauer. Originally scheduled to exhibit with the College of the Canyons Art Gallery in the Spring, her one-person exhibition with us had to be postponed due to the pandemic. We share her work here, presented in a virtual format.

Brooke’s most recent works, gathered here in Out in the Blue, were born outdoors. Her evocative prints are inspired by hikes and adventures undertaken with family and friends, and explore wild and natural worlds as well as the interior worlds that she suggests spending time in nature (or with a good book) can open in all of us.

Created by combining painting with a photographic printing process called cyanotype, which gives them their rich blue color, these works are made using water, light, and the pressed plants the artist gathers while hiking. In a time when many of us are spending our days sequestered inside, her works cogently remind us that striving to conserve and connect to the natural world can provide deep possibilities and opportunities for renewal.

-Pamela Lewis

With these works I identify with the natural world by exploring and learning about it first-hand, and reflecting on our symbiotic connection to it. I relate our human relationship to landscape as both a physical and metaphorical terrain to contemplate and protect -- one that inspires feelings of the sublime. Connectivity and eco-psychology are core concepts that drive my work, and I hope to inspire others to go outside and explore their own internal landscape as they interact with and observe nature.

The intimate and thoughtful moments portrayed in my work suggest that just as nature surrounds us, it is also within us. My unique prints are created by combining a very old photographic printing process called cyanotype, with my background in painting and my love of botany and adventure. All of the artworks featured in this exhibition utilize pressed plants that I collected while hiking and exploring. I refer to my botanical collection as a “nostalgic herbarium,” as each specimen in it holds a memory and a story of a wonderful feeling, a place, and the people I was with when I collected them. This nostalgia peeks out from time to time in my work in the form of a longing or introspectiveness on the part of the figures captured within, or perhaps a yearning for a new adventure.

-- Brooke Sauer

Brooke Sauer grew up traveling around the United States and ultimately landed in Los Angeles to study art at Otis College of Fine Arts and the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Her love of nature has caused her to put down roots in Los Angeles where she can escape to the mountains, desert, or forests year-round to inspire her artistic practice. Brooke has worked as part of the collaborative duo B&T for over a decade, and has returned to her solo practice in the past six years with a new voice that has been informed by her experience as a painter, video maker, and performance artist.

Brooke holds a BFA in Painting from Otis College of Art & Design, and an MFA from Art Center College of Design. For more information about her and her work visit https://brookesauer.com/ or follow her on instagram @Biminy