| Issue #04 - April 18, 2008 |
Honoring the Artist: Cornelia Foss
There aren't many artists who are as devoted or committed to their subject matter as much as Cornelia Foss. Consider the fact that Wainscott Pond, site of this week's cover, is a place Ms. Foss has painted for over 40 years. Or the fact that she sometimes drives from her New York apartment with her husband, composer Lukas Foss, to look at the ocean and then turns around and goes back to Manhattan.
Q: What is it about Wainscott Pond that attracts you after 45 years?
A: I don't know. All I know is that I have a fixation, an obsession about the pond. It changes all the time. Turn by one and a half degrees, and it's different. It's so amazing how many possibilities there are.
Q: Can you be specific about the possibilities?
A: A man once commissioned me to do a view of the pond from his house. I had never done it from that perspective. And then there are the changing seasons. Each season has its own beauty. When you see it in the spring, there are the greens and beautiful pinks. In the fall, there are the browns, oranges and purples. There's magic in the winter.
Q: One of your pond paintings enjoyed a special possibility.
A: Yes. I sent the well-known Japanese composer, Toru Takemitsu, a postcard of a pond painting, and he named one of his pieces after it. It was performed a lot of places.
Q: Did you ever want to compose music yourself?
A: I'm completely illiterate when it comes to music, although I like to listen to it.
Q: When you're not painting or listening to music, what do you do?
A: I teach at the Art Students League and The National Academy. I also like cooking, mixing German, Italian and French recipes and then having friends over to enjoy it.
Q: What are your thoughts about teaching?
A: It's amazing that everyone is completely teachable. Everyone can do a good painting although not necessarily a great painting.
Q: How about spending time with your grandchildren, Olivia, Sabina and Eugenie in New York?
A: Oh yes. I take them to the museums. Olivia, the oldest one, was particularly impressed with the Head of Medusa.
Q: How are you influenced by New York as far as your own painting goes?
A: There are four places I love to paint. One is the view of Central Park from my apartment. The other places are, of course, Wainscott Pond, my garden in Bridgehampton and the ocean. I may drive out to look at the ocean to be reminded of the shoreline and then go back immediately to New York.
Q: Now that's devotion.
A: I guess so.
- Marion Wolberg Weiss
Ms. Foss's work will be on view at East Hampton's Spanierman Gallery starting April 26.
Back to Contents
|
|
