Ada Pullini Brown

Exhibiting new sky paintings from the series “Through the Empyrean.” These paintings were started during the Covid lockdowns of 2020 when I became aware of the limited view I could see from my courtyard. I wanted to paint more than a cloudscape, I wanted to express the isolation, the sense of loss, and I wanted to bring a contemporary relevance to this genre. There were clouds and there was fire. I call the series “Through the Empyrean.” The floating geometric shapes and lines are a focus that remind me we can only see a small piece of it all from our vantage point. The series has been leading me into insightful and new creative directions as I continue to study, observe, and paint the light and atmosphere of our environment.

The following has been written about the work:
“Painter Ada Pullini Brown submitted a gorgeous cloudscape with sunlight slipping through shadowy areas and a thin gold line accenting the horizon. Brown’s careful articulation of light and dark recalls the cloud paintings of British artist John Constable. With his dual interests in emotionalism and new views of the natural world, Constable is often considered a practitioner of Romanticism. Brown’s work adds a layer of nostalgia to historic Romanticism: a reminder that our environment is no longer a pristine paradise, but instead a threatened, endangered realm.”
— Betty Ann Brown, July 2022
Old Broads at Roswell Space, Art + Cake

Biography
Ada Pullini Brown’s work is held in private and public collections including, the Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas, the Visual Arts & Crafts Academy of Germiston, South Africa, the UC Santa Barbara Archives of Self-Help Graphics, and the Prints & Drawing Collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).

She has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions at Presbyterian College in South Carolina, the A.I.R. Gallery in NYC, the Schomburg Gallery, the Riverside Art Museum, Rancho Santiago College, the Venice Art Walk, Avenue 50 Studio, SoLA Contemporary Gallery, Roswell Space, and the Sabina Lee Gallery. Her work has been published in art and literary journals, zines, and textbooks.

In 2022 she exhibited and co-curated, with fellow Brewery artist, Jill Sykes, “Let Me Talk” for the Brand Library & Art Center Gallery followed by a solo exhibition, “Through the Empyrean” at the Rio Hondo College Art Gallery.

She is a retired Professor of Drawing & Painting and for almost twenty years ran a program she created, ArTravel, bringing artists to study plein-air painting with her in Europe.