Gallery Talk: Suzanne Chamlin

Bellarmine Hall, Bellarmine Hall Galleries

In this exhibition of recent work, Chamlin explores ideas about color theory and light through a series of landscape and interior stills. Since 2012, the artist has carefully charted her paints using the Munsell color system, which analyzes colors in terms of hue (the color itself), value (relative light and dark) and chroma (level of saturation or brilliance). For each of her paintings, Chamlin sets a highly specific palette; experimentation within this limited range then guides her decisions about process and pictorial space.

About the Artist

Suzanne Chamlin is Associate Professor of Studio Art in the Department of Visual & Performing Arts at Fairfield University. Her drawings are in the collections of the National Gallery of Art, Yale University Art Gallery, and the Nelson Atkins Museum. Chamlin has attended residencies at the Albers Foundation, Yaddo, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Ragdale, Fundación Valparaiso, and Edna St. Vincent Millay Colony. Chamlin received her B.A. from Barnard College and M.F.A. from Yale University.

Faculty Liaison: Marice Rose, PhD, Professor of Art History & Visual Culture

Presented in conjunction with Suzanne Chamlin: Studies in Color (Bellarmine Hall Galleries, April 5–July 27)

Suzanne Chamlin, House Study, 2023, oil and chalk on linen. © Suzanne Chamlin.