Brooke Sauer: A Dialogue with Nature
Visual artist Brooke Sauer explores her deep connection with the natural world in her current series of cyanotypes. The figures in Brooke’s work are not only immersed in the great outdoors, but are often communicating with nature itself. Through visually striking narratives, Brooke invites the viewer to marvel at the awe-inspiring beauty and mystery of mother nature.
Tell me about your background and where your creative journey began.
I grew up with two very fun and creative parents and I was always making things and exploring the natural places that were outside my door. We moved around a lot when I was a kid, but we always seemed to land in a place with the forest outside our back door or a vast desert just across the street. I had a lot of freedom to roam by myself, observe and enjoy nature, and get lost in my imagination.
I continued making things through my teens and early 20’s and decided to see what art school could do for me. I met one of my best friends early on in undergrad, and we collaborated for the remainder of our time there, earning our BFA with a collaborative exhibition and thesis. Originally enrolled as a painter, I began shooting super 8 films and photography as well. Tyler, whose background was in non traditional sculpture, began creating installations that we would sometimes perform and film in. We went on to earn our collaborative MFA and exhibited under the name of B&T for over a decade. When I began working solo again, I returned to painting, searching for what I wanted to say through my art. I’ve worked in so many mediums. My current body of work in cyanotype continues to hold my attention going on four years now, and I am still finding new ways to explore what I can create with this process. I don’t see my investigation of this medium ending any time soon.
Where do you find inspiration for your work?
I have always been happiest playing outside. The act of walking really frees my mind, making room for inspiration. I started hiking, camping, and backpacking with my Dad when I was around 10yrs old, and that really opened up my world. The awe that I experience on these excursions has been tantamount to my creative expression. So many times we have hiked to incredible places and it feels like we have it all to ourselves. The isolation, the sounds, the silence, the evidence of geographical history, the moon rising like a friend over the ridge of a mountain-it’s everything, and often brings me happy tears on the trail. If I can convey even a little of the joy and reverence I have felt in these wondrous places then that makes me a happy artist! The figures in my work are often communing with nature in some way, large and small. Awe can be found in the joy of observing even the smallest things as well, like while on a walk with a friend, and sharing that experience with someone is so meaningful. I also read constantly, and a good portion of that has an impact on me creatively, especially when I am unable to get out in to nature, I find it in a book!
What led you to work in shades of blue and white, and how does color contribute to the narratives you create?
My interest in cyanotype began as a teaching artist. I would use the packs of pre treated papers with my students, and they just thought it was magic! I taught art & science integration classes, and the cyanotype process is a perfect marriage of the two. The reaction of the iron salt formula produces the blue color in the cyanotype. I was never really happy with the results from those pre treated papers though, and always thought, one day I’m going to really investigate how to make this better! When I was ready to explore the cyanotype method, I loved how the shades of blue really reminded me of the photos I was always taking while hiking: sky, water, snow, atmospheric perspective, dusk, dawn, etc. If there was ever a color that “spoke” to me, these blues sure do! I also love the minimalism of working with light and dark, like the Japanese Notan art which I loved making with my students. There is something in the starkness of the monochrome palette that focuses the viewer on the subject matter and bestows emotional qualities of calm, cool, sometimes forlorn, longing, or mysterious.
How has your work shifted and evolved over time?
When I first started creating cyanotypes, I cut and collaged negatives that I would make from my photos onto my paintings. I started to learn about botany, and began collecting and pressing plants from my wanderings. The cyanotypes then became a merging of these places and the plants that I found there. I never collected anything rare or from protected areas, it is important to respect and protect! I have a rotating herbarium with specimens that I have had for several years which hold up well if they’re stored properly. This year I have pressed pause on using the plants, and have been creating semi abstract landscape compositions with varying processing times to achieve a range of blues, deviating from the high contrast prints of my previous work. Once spring rolls around I’m sure the botanical will find its way back into my work again. I am enjoying working with the seasons, and right now these non botanical landscapes are feeling like winter to me.
What does a typical day in the studio look like for you, and how has your art practice grown or changed?
I am an early riser and I feel most creative in the morning. When I was teaching art full time, I worked very long days so my weekends were my art and hiking time. When the pandemic came along, I was let go at the end of last school year due to cut-backs, so now I’m walking out to my garage studio in my pajamas by 8AM with a cup of coffee in one hand, a paintbrush in the other, and my audio book cued up. The pandemic has allowed me to be a full time artist, for now, which is a silver lining. Because my art practice requires intervals of processing times, I can get a painting ready and while it is processing, I am working on new drawings or going for a walk to clear my head, or working in my vegetable and flower garden. When I was working full time I felt very result oriented during my weekend studio time and felt stressed out if I didn’t make something that I loved because I would have to wait another week to try again! Now I spend a lot more time experimenting and not worrying about what comes out of it, and I feel like my art is progressing in interesting new ways because of that.
Which experiences have impacted your work as an artist?
This current body of work is directly inspired by my experiences in nature. Living in Los Angeles, I am very fortunate to live so close to many amazing natural places to enjoy. In times when I am not able to venture far beyond my house, like during the shelter at home phases of the pandemic, or the summer of forest fires, I rely on my neighborhood walks, my photo archive of previous adventures, and inspirational reading material to jumpstart new artworks.
How has Instagram impacted your art career?
I have learned about and connected with so many wonderful people through Instagram! I feel like I have such a great network of diverse, positive, supportive people from a variety of backgrounds all over the world that I just wouldn’t know otherwise. It’s really amazing actually. I have found residencies, workshops, discussion groups, and so many opportunities to share my work through instagram. Because my work crosses over many different subjects: painting, printmaking, alternative photography, natural science, outdoor recreation, etc., I am always discovering new little communities on Instagram which inspire me.
What are your future goals and aspirations?
My current body of work is all created in studio, so I am wrapping my head around what I can do to create on-site at some of these places that I backpack/travel to. Right now I feel like I’m gathering information to bring back home, but I am inspired to create something there, in the wild, when can figure out what that is. I can’t carry very much with me, so it will have to be well thought out and light weight. I like the idea of being a nomadic artist and co-creating with the environment, the weather, and whatever is around me. That would be a very different way of creating for me, and I like the challenge of that.
Website: www.brookesauer.com
Instagram: @biminy