Gallery #1

Phyllis Schafer is a local artist with a very interesting body of work. Schafer mainly works with landscapes and often enjoys using foreground as the main focus of her work. I was very surprised to earn that Schafer mainly uses oil on canvas, because her work actually looked very digitally animated. Schafer’s use of swirling lines, vibrant color, and sharp geometric shapes reminded me significantly of Pixar animations work in movies. One of the pieces in the Gallery that caught my eye first was titled, “autumn in Yosemite valley.” The vibrant contrast of the cartoon like white clouds against the blue sky brought my thoughts directly to the iconic image of Pixar clouds that appear in movies such as toy story. And the horizontal curves of the sky and foreground make the image appear as if it is leaping out of the canvas and taking me into the landscape. The way in which Schafer was able to distort reality and yet portray an image that still looked very realistic is a technique that I have never witnessed before. Another piece of Schafer’s work that I found appealing was titled, “Tallac Rex.” The reflection on the water and the smooth flowing colors it was composed of was something that looked as if it had to be done digitally. Also the amount of intricate brush strokes and colors incorporated in the grass was absolutely stunning. Another component of the gallery that was unique was the inclusion of a short film of the artist speaking bout the work. I thought that this was a very cool element to have included in a gallery because you get the opportunity to know the actual thoughts behind the work from the actual artist. It defiantly gave me a stronger connection to the artwork. Overall chaffers Schafer’s body of work put me in a good mood for the rest of the day and inspired me to explore different techniques when it comes to painting and other forms of art. I would absolutely love to see Schafer work with Pixar or another group to create a film using her style of seeing the world. I believe it would be a great success!