Nature has long been the subject of Christine Neill's large watercolors and mixed media prints. In recent works she explores moments where plant life intersects the human world, employing natural forms as the embodiment of myth and metaphor. Anthropomorphic, atmospheric and emotional elements meet and conflict with the analytical for overall psychological and visual effect.

The immediate and illusive transparency of watercolor appropriately expresses the unseen ephemeral states of nature. Neill’s process entails bringing collected plant matter into her studio to separate them from a landscape context allowing her to examine the specimens in detail. The resulting images chronicle fragile and vibrant growth as plant forms return to seeds, leaves turn to mulch, and pods split hinting of the dark mysteries deep within. Taking cues from both the plant world and human experience, Neill uses light and shadow, vivid and rotting color, and familiar and menacing shapes to compare tenuous natural activities to similar human events. This is a reminder that all individuals have a deep-rooted connection to the earth and that similar biological processes bind the natural and human worlds.

Some of the work combines digital processes with the hands-on techniques of painting and drawing by layering watercolors with archival digital prints. The resulting mixed-media pieces imbed a representation of the object with a painterly interpretation, contrasting the analytical and formal with the expressive and organic.

Neill traces much of her recent work to her academic experiences at Skidmore College, which she entered intending to be a biology major. At the same time she was studying the origins of life in the bio lab, she was also engaged intellectually, physically and intuitively in studio courses. The drawing work she did with Philip Guston in 1968 was seminal. Her ardent support of the tenants of conservationists and environmentalists are reflected both in the visual warnings implied in the Toxic Beauty series as well as the paintings that celebrate our experiences in and the beauty of the natural world.

About The Urban Forest Project:

Neill writes: In December 2007, my husband Lew Fifield, a Graphic Designer, and I entered a competition to design banners for the Urban Forest Project. The project brought together 200 artists, designers, students and businesses to produce a visual story based on the image of a tree and the idea of sustainability. Participant were asked to design banners to be hung throughout Baltimore City from April 12 – June 28, 2008 and will lead visitors to Druid Hill Park, Wyman Park Dell, Herring Run Park, Patterson Park and Carroll Park. After the closing, the banners will be recycled into tote bags and sold as original works of functional art. All proceeds from the project will benefit the Baltimore City Department of Recreation & Parks Tree Baltimore Campaign for a greener city. The best thing about Baltimore: The Urban Forest Project? It produces no waste!

Lew and I occasionally collaborate on projects, combining my painted and digital images with his type and graphic know how. A series of nine related designs were chosen to be among the 200 banners hanging in Baltimore’s parks. Our entries depict leaves, branches, flowers and pods of trees that will grow in Baltimore or varieties familiar to Baltimore’s residents. Both of us have strong environmentalist beliefs that influence our fine art and design work and the way we live our lives.

Throughout history many cultures have used trees as symbols, symbols of fertility and family, of knowledge, life, sin and redemption. The trees we chose to represent on our banners include the gingko, magnolia, cypress, eucalyptus, laurel and oleander.

The Gingko is believed to be one of the oldest living seed trees. Originating in southern China, fossils confirm they were once widespread across the earth. The tree provides a link to our botanical heritage. Some ginkgos may live longer than 3,000 years and are thought to have medicinal purposes. Sir Albert Seward claims "It appeals to the historic soul: we see it as an emblem of changelessness… a tree which has in its keeping the secrets of the immeasurable past." The many species of the Magnolia are indigenous to the east coast of the United States and a region in east Asia, but no where in between. Disjunction refers to the pattern of plant distribution and diversification that happened when the supercontinent Laurasia split and drifted apart. Laurel, an evergreen, was believed to ward off death. In ancient times, the leaves and twigs were formed into wreaths conferred as a mark of honor on poets, athletes and victors. Cypress, also an evergreen, are often planted in cemeteries and are symbols of eternal life. Eucalyptus trees are too tender to grow in Baltimore. However, the fragrant branches are readily available here. In ancient Alexandria the trees were grown on either side of entrance doors to ward off evils. All parts of the Oleander, including the flowers pictured in Toxic Beauty, are harmful, even fatal to humans when ingested. They remind us of the delicate balance between humans and nature, that similar biological processes bind the natural and human worlds and that all individuals have a deep-rooted connection to the earth.

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