Talia Roberts
A Reflection of the Solar Year in Twelve Full Moons
An earthly interpretation of shifting light.
2023
This series is an earthly interpretation of the shifting light and mood during the twelve months Earth travels around the sun. In this exhibition, a large sun is surrounded by eleven moons that are grouped into distinct sets, representing the four seasons. Each canvas was painted with small, sweeping brush strokes that form a sphere containing two poles.
The paintings were made with naturally derived mineral pigments, restricting the works to a warm-toned, gentle palette. These pigments have been used from time immemorial and are sourced from the ground, revealing geological information related to the formation of our planet.
This series studies the impressions color has on our perception of time.Movement, minerals and magnetic fields merge together on the canvas to create a series undergoing a process of metamorphosis with each new position in Earth's path around the sun.
Installation views
Painter of terrestrial color, celestial bodies.
Talia Roberts (b. 1997, Hollywood, Florida) paints with naturally derived mineral pigments, approaching each canvas in a single lengthy sitting with short, repetitive brush strokes that lend a meditative quality to the application. Her paintings evoke moods unique to each carefully applied pigment, imbued with nature's soft and subtle beauty and an ethereal light that emanates from within.
Roberts holds a BA in Psychology and Studio Art from Wake Forest University (2019) and lives and works in Vermont. Her work has been featured at the Missoula Art Museum — including the group exhibition Imaging the Sacred — and the Holter Museum of Art, and was the subject of two Missoulian features on her practice of turning river rock into pigment.