On Wednesday, September 9 of 2015, I attended an art exhibit at Santa Fe College. The exhibit Florida Impressions, by artist Dr. Runa Peng, reflects her observations and feelings about her experience in Florida from 2013 and 2015. Her printmaking expertise and Florida experiences show in all of her pieces displayed in the exhibit. Of her many beautiful pieces, two of them stood out to me.
The first striking piece was called “Lake Alice I”. Dr. Peng created this 21”x 42” piece while she was located in China during 2014. I found this piece extremely bold because of the contrasting colors she used within the piece. Her varying nuances of blue also created an effect to separate the body of the lake from its setting. The black represents the trees and gives off a woodland forest feeling to the artwork. Additionally, her use of colors including orange and purple allow one to have an idea of the sky giving off vibrant colors towards the end of a beautiful day. The focused area of light blue above the body of water is presumed to be some sort of building, such as a house on a lakefront. This house is also reflected in the water and should the surrounding colors allow the house to be a part of the forest area even though it is not a part of nature. The setting gives off calm emotions, a sense of serenity, and a hint of mystery found in the black representation of the forest. Overall, the picture personally puts a clear image in my head of returning home, after a tiresome day, to my comforting home where relaxation fills the air. I feel that Dr. Peng was portraying home as a sort of safe haven during days of large amounts of stress. It was extremely interesting to see the way she portrayed home though a small house on a lake.
The next eye-catching piece I observed was call “Make A Wish”. This 34”x 20” piece was made in 2015 while she was visiting Florida for her second time. In this piece, Dr. Peng uses blue as a contrast color again. This time, she uses it to create a shadowy effect for her main color, green. With a blue emphasis, Dr. Peng uses green and her main center to create an abstract genie in the bottle image. The muddled green and blue towards the bottom of the piece create a cloudy image that can be considered smoke coming out of a genie lamp. This creates a mystical aura for the picture which adds to the supernatural feeling. The solid structural lines create a strong and powerful feeling that genies usually have. Dr. Peng’ also includes a yellow background that puts great emphasis on the green center genie and allows the vapid image to catch complete attention. The image itself creates a feeling of hope because of the yellow background. Dr. Peng is able to also create an unsure yet eager feeling of anticipation throughout her piece. She is also able to continue her sense of mystery from the last piece and incorporate it into her “Make A Wish” piece. Through this piece of work I can imagine a powerful, confident genie emerging from an ancient golden lamp or bottle. Dr. Peng used this to represent her eager anticipation during her second trip to Florida.
Conclusively, I saw and felt Dr. Peng’s excitement to be in Florida and experience the new culture. She was able to experience the home living of the average American. Her “Lake Alice I” clearly showed her point of view from where she visited. Her image of the house in Florida also revealed how she may have felt hints of homesickness while visiting Florida. In addition, Dr. Peng was able to express her excitement during her visit through her “Make A Wish” piece. Additionally, she was able to display all of this through Chinese print making, a traditional art style. She was able to express her experiences clearly in her pieces put on display in the exhibit
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