Color informs my art. It is the foundation for my work and drives my thinking. In developing palettes, I draw from nature, whether I happen to be working abstractly or figuratively. Secondary themes of rhythm, pattern, and form I develop through color relationships. The organizing basis of my compositions lies in the interactions of hue, intensity, value, and proportion that I explore between colors.
My interest in the study of color began when I taught color theory at the University of Cincinnati in 1975. I used Josef Albers's Interaction of Color as the basis for my lectures and projects. In 1978 I studied color theory at Yale with graphic designer, artist, and colorist Armin Hofmann. Instead of cut paper --Albers's medium --Armin, professor at the Allgemeine Gewerbeschule Basel School of Art, used gouache for probing the properties of color. I found that by using paint to investigate color interaction and formulating a color's mix, I better understood why and how different colors affected each other.
In the 1980s and 90s I worked as a professional graphics and color consultant on urban design, architecture, and publications projects. My clients included the Hood Museum of Art, Centerbrook Architects, the Boston Museum of Science, the New Haven Coliseum, the Connecticut Society of Architects, the Hartford Seminary, the Yale School of Architecture, the University of Hartford, and the Florence Griswold Museum.
I maintain studios in Connecticut and California. The landscape and light of these two places, so different from one another, influence much of my artwork. I also am influenced by childhood years in rural Ohio with its expansive, open farmland and big skies that change in color throughout varied stages of cultivation and the influence of seasonal light.
I work figuratively and abstractly and sometimes in-between --an area I call "transitional". My figurative work informs my abstract work and vice versa. With oil paintings I first use pastel or gouache to study composition and color relationships, then I go on to canvas, using oils. With digital work I employ drawing software and photography software to generate artwork. My use of a variety of media opens up exploration of different mark-making systems that are specific to my subject matter, to the materials I'm using, and to my intent.
It is by accident that I began working in film. My son, Logan, and I decided to make a film in 2012 for Sister Cities Essex Haiti, a nonprofit organization based in Essex, CT, to help raise awareness about SCEH projects in Deschapelles, Haiti, and to raise money to build a library. I have since made short films for SCEH and Child & Family Agency of Southeastern Connecticut, where I chaired the Public Relations and Communications Committees respectively from 2012 - 2018.
Education:
MFA Yale University, 1980
Yale Summer Program Brissago, CH, 1978
Rhode Island School of Design, 1977
BS Design, University of Cincinnati, 1975
Maine Media Workshop, film, 2014
Teaching:
Foundation Design and Color Theory,
University of Cincinnati, 1975-76
Foundation Design, Graphic Design,
Color Theory, Hartford Art School,
University of Hartford, 1983-86
Publications:
City Print Series,
New York Graphic Society, 1983
Awards:
Connecticut Art Directors Club, 1981, 1986
Association of American Museums, 1986
Connecticut Society of Architects and
American Institute of Architects, 1988
New England Museum Association, 1996
Commissions:
University of St Joseph, West Hartford, CT '19
Acquisitions:
Lyman Allyn Art Museum, New London, CT '20
Exhibitions, Group:
New Britain Museum of American Art, CT '20
Film:
https://vimeo.com/brendahuffmanfloyd
Email:
floyd.brenda@gmail.com