"Whenever I visit Laurel, I love to go to Lee’s Coffee & Tea for breakfast and coffee. The high ceiling soars skyward like a cathedral and the interior windows, doors, and staircases invite curiosity, as does the upstairs balcony area. Why are there interior windows? Why is the ceiling so high? The balcony space is peaceful and conveys a sense of distance—an invitation to ponder places one cannot see.
The seascape scene from Mother and Infant Boy (26.163) invites these same emotions. The print is titled for the scene in the foreground, yet the beautiful picture above them, apparently hanging on a wall, sparks the same amount of visual interest as the mother and child.
As I stand in the café looking up at the balcony, my eyes travel freely, seeing the peacefulness of the boats floating on the sea far in the distance. " -rds
Magical Landscapes:
An Artist’s Fusion of Japanese Ukiyo-e Prints and Laurel’s Architectural Heritage
Paintings by René Shoemaker
Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, Laurel, MS, USA
"Athens, Georgia artist René Shoemaker explores the way spaces work together and how people inhabit and interact with their environment. For her exhibition at Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, she is investigating both the architecture of Laurel, Mississippi, and the Museum’s collection of Japanese woodblock prints to produce paintings on silk. Inspired by the Japanese aesthetic and representation of objects, patterns and colors, her compositions respond to the designs that are engraved onto the woodblock prints, and incorporate scenes from the Lauren Rogers Museum buildings and the intriguing architecture of Laurel itself. Bringing together these two artistic movements that are separated in space and time, the artist creates a magical landscape that communicates with a new language of images. Shoemaker’s paintings are comparable in size to the prints in the collection, and they will be hung side-by-side in this exhibition."
-Kristen Miller Zohn, curator
