Laini Nemett

“My landscape paintings layer histories of weather, industry, and renewal. In my most recent series, I seek out second-growth forests where pioneer species have reclaimed land left behind by once-booming industries. On site at old bluestone quarries, rerouted Erie Canal lines, and 19th-century mill corridors along the Poestenkill, Wyants Kill, and other nearby creeks, I make plein-air studies and collect bark, quarry dust, stone, and plant matter to produce natural inks that become the first poured layers of the canvas. I then build the surface with oil paint, allowing forms to emerge from the same materials that shaped the landscape itself. In contrast to these younger pioneer forests, the nature preserve behind our home is a rare remnant old growth forest in upstate New York. Because of its proximity to suburban development, this landscape is in constant flux—recent windstorms have toppled 200+ year old pines, exposing clearings in the canopy, leaving nearby trees newly vulnerable. I return to the same view repeatedly, painting directly from life in short sittings to track shifts in light, atmosphere, weather, and season. In small- and large-scale paintings, I follow the shifting life of these woods as trees shed their leaves, swell with snow, fracture in windstorms, and seed the next generation of growth.”.

Laini lives and works in Schenectady, New York, where she is Associate Professor of Drawing and Painting at Union College.