This year, I had the honor to parter with the AU/ UGA Medical Partnership and create two 4 feet by 8 feet paintings of UGA's Health Sciences campus. What a project! I love painting at this scale, especially when I get to include my friends and family in the process.
The first painting, the one shown in the above video, is of UGA's Winnie Davis Hall. I had tons of help from my wonderful spring interns, Arezou Taeed and Amy Scott, as well as from James Lineburger and my daughter, Ruby Calkin along with Bill Prigge, UGA's Campus Director for Finance and Operations. I'm so honored to be a part of this great community of students and staff alike.
The above slideshow documents my painting process via the @jamiecalkinart Instagram story!
I had a lot of fun with the second painting, too, though this one was more of a solo effort (emotional support provided by Snowflake the Dog). Initially, I was instructed to paint the Health Sciences Campus Russell Hall... but they gave me the creative freedom to take it elsewhere. Naturally, I made it a little harder for myself :) Instead of a ground-view panorama style similar to the Winnie Davis painting, I decided to try a bird's eye, drone perspective. Which, as much as I loved the idea, proved to be aesthetically challenging! I thought of this painting almost as a map, but challenged myself to not just show the buildings and locations as a map might. I wanted to create the whole scene with character! I had some fun with the details (see the unicyclist on Prince Ave??) It was a fascinating experience.
A BIG thank you to Bill Prigge and Dean Shelley- I loved working with both of you so much! It's been an honor.
Click here to see the print of the first painting of Winnie Davis Hall!