Camille Gibbons Kerr
Goose Island Trees
Woodcut print with collage and watercolor
45 x 31 inches

Camille Gibbons Kerr
Two for the Evening
Acrylic on canvas
24 x 36 inches

Camille Gibbons Kerr
Grackle at Sunset
Acrylic on Wood Panel
36 x 24 inches

Camille Gibbons Kerr
North Woods
Oil on Plexiglass
30 x 36 inches

Camille Gibbons Kerr
Schefflera
Mixed Media
16 x 20 inches

ARTIST BIO

My name is Camille Gibbons Kerr. I am a native Texan. I was born in Dallas, Texas. I graduated from the University of North Texas with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. I live in Fort Worth, Texas with my husband, Michael and our sweet puppy, Topper. We have two grown sons, James and John Michael. I have taught art in public school for many years – every grade but mostly high school. I enjoy teaching young artists of all ages. I try to help them build confidence in themselves and in their work by teaching them skills and introducing them to different kinds of art media and artists. Besides teaching and making my own art, I also love gardening. It is very important to me. One of my most exciting experiences was traveling to see Monet's garden at Giverny in France and to learn how important gardening was to him and to his work.

When creating my art nature and its many forms are my theme. I love natural forms and natural lines. It is not my intent to imitate nature. I rather try to reveal to the viewer the power of nature. Its organic lines and forms evoke power as well as beauty – even in nature's simplest expressions. I basically remain truthful to form but the colors and lines come from my own personal expression.

In my work I travel back and forth between mixed media work, printmaking, watercolor, drawing, and oil painting. I have never been a purist when it comes to media. Often, when I create a woodcut or a watercolor I eventually finish by drawing on top of it. I must add more color and more texture. I want to create rich surfaces that lie underneath the image. The colors I choose are usually warm – the reds, various tones of coral, juxtaposed with intense greens and blues. I use expressive line to draw attention to a certain area. The lines in my mixed media pieces are quick thick and thin gestural lines that create a feeling of spontaneity. They carry weight. Consequently, the lines are usually in dark tones.

I spent years focusing on the brown pelicans on Galveston Island. I have observed these birds many times on the harbor side of the island when they gather by the fish markets where local owners throw out their leftovers. They gather on the rocks where boats are docked to roost at night. They gather there in great numbers. It is so hard to believe that at one time, not very long ago, these birds were endangered due to the DDT that had become so prevalent in the environment. The pesticide made their eggshells so thin that the embryos inside were incapable of surviving to maturity. It made me think of how we take certain species in nature for granted until one day we realize they are almost gone due to our own lack of concern for our environment and others that share it with us.

The natural world enriches my daily life. My goal is to document and elaborate on that richness.