Taos as Art: Painting Light, Landscape and Color

2011 Cultural Institute weekend is July 21-24.

Taos as Art: Painting Light, Landscape and Color

Focus on the color enchantment of Taos with SMU’s favorite art professor, Mary Vernon, as she shares her passionate enthusiasm for art, especially painting. Find your personal color inspiration in the work of the Taos founding artists, Native American artists or the magnificent Taos landscape. You and your classmates will visit museums, art studios and majestic vistas in and around Taos. You’ll learn how to appreciate the spectacular light that Taos is known for by watching Vernon and guest painters color mix in a natural, outdoor setting. Making your own color studies on canvas is central to the experience of experimenting with light, observation and intuition. No prior painting experience is required.

About the Instructor
Mary Vernon paints landscapes in which she seeks the underlying geometric structure and the genius loci of places. She was born in southern New Mexico and educated at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. Vernon has taught art at SMU since 1967. She has served as the U.S. State Department Visiting Artist in Chile (2003), has shown her work in France, Hungary and Kazakhstan, and teaches advanced courses in color theory. Her most recent Dallas exhibition, Mary Vernon: Still Lifes and Tables, took place in September 2009 at Valley House Gallery, which represents her work.

For more information
Contact Allison Curran at: taosci@smu.edu or call 214-768-TAOS (8267).