GLIMPSES OF MAINE, CUTENESS AND FLOWERS
Cig Harvey: Elizabeth
While the world is still waiting to reopen (the signs of life and reopening are growing stronger and stronger, daring me to dream about far flung destinations again), I am still finding inspiration in the striking images of my favorite photographers. So for today, let’s explore Maine through the eyes of the British photographer Cig Harvey.
THE AIPAD SHOW: DISCOVERING THE WORLD OF CIG HARVEY
I first came across Cig’s work a few years ago when her playful home and family scenes caught my eye at the Aipad show in NYC. It was the bold color, the perfect-yet-imperfect composition and the hint of a mischief that made Cig’s work so appealing. It’s warm and it’s human and I was hooked. So I started paying attention.
GOING DEEPER: THE PLAYFUL MAINE
Cig’s story itself is interesting. How does a photographer South West England become one of the up and coming artists in Maine? Maine was the first place Cig moved to when she arrived in the US in 1999. The open spaces were exactly what was needed to inspire her creative thinking process. And although Cig got her MFA from Rockport College and spent nearly 10 years as an assistant professor at the Art Institute in Boston, she met her husband in Maine and they eventually bought an old farmhouse there that’s been her base for years now.
When we chatted at her art opening recently, she was quick to point out that with Maine’s long winters, it takes some creativity to come up with the engaging pictures that I admire so much. It may take exploring snowy scenery and working with random objects such as a disco ball to cast that magic spell on a simple wooden wall. Or, it may take putting together her photographer skills and the playful ideas of her daughter to recreate the feeling of childhood wonder. It succeeds brilliantly.
DEEPER STILL: THE RICHNESS OF COLOR, THE DEPTH OF BEAUTY
What I appreciate about Harvey’s work is also its breadth. Where one moment you can be playing along, dreaming of running into the snow or building an igloo, blink and you are suddenly wading through a dark moody lake. Blink again and you’re in a forest surrounded by all its luscious greenery. There may even be a butterfly landing next to you in this magical landscape. The rich, deeply saturated colors do their part to truly immerse you in the experience.
BLUE VIOLET: EAT FLOWERS
Another thing worth mentioning? Cig Harvey is not only a talented photographer, she is also a book author. Her books (yes, she has four now!) are sensorial gems full of poetry and warmth where the words and the perfect match for the images they accompany. Start with her first one, “You look at me like an emergency” that takes you on the quest for personal identity and finding your place in the world, then move on to “Gardening at Night” and its exploration of home, family, nature, and time, and then the third one, “You an Orchestra, You a Bomb” that explores her relationship with life itself paying attention to and appreciating the fragile present.
The just published fourth book, “Blue Violet” is an explosion of color and sensorial delight. Flip through and you’ll learn about Cig’s favorite color (pink), the secret to forcing blossoms in the middle of the winter (changing the water daily and loudly expressing a desperate desire for spring might play a role) and how to make delicious meals that, you guessed it, involve eating flowers. All wrapped among some of her most gorgeous imagery to-date. And I am very lucky to own one, signed by Cig herself.
Cig Harvey is represented by the Robert Mann Gallery in New York and by the Jackson Fine Art gallery in Atlanta. Her work is in permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas; the International Museum of Photography and Film at the George Eastman House, Rochester, New York; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and the Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, Maine.
Cig Harvey: Emerald Coat with Dahlia Petal