18 September 2019
Landslides in Art Part 30: Erica Putis
Posted by Dave Petley
Landslides in Art Part 30: Erica Putis
This is the 30th edition of my (very occasional) series on the ways in which landslides are depicted in various forms of art. Part 29 can be found here.
This time I’m featuring a piece of work by Erica Putis, who describes herself, and her work, thus:
Erica Putis grew up in a small town in Vermont where the grass was green and the winters cold. During this time, she wandered for hours around her family’s 20 acres, continuously in awe of nature and her surroundings. Creating was always something that happened and never stopped even when she grew up…Erica’s work is inspired by her love of nature, science and beauty. She tries to find the balance between the terrifying beauty of mother nature and the fascinating anomalies of the science world. These subjects have always motivated her creativity and given her a sense of awe while living on this little place we call Earth.
This work is from a collection of work entitled Natural Destruction Series, which she describes as follows:
I grew up in Vermont and am a nature girl at heart. I am totally fascinated and terrified of natural destruction. In our current state of affairs due to climate change these beautiful but scary phenomena will continue to increase with frequency and strength. I am continuously amazed at Mother Nature and how we lack control over her. Watching the weather channel, confronting my phobia of tornadoes and studying science and geology in my spare time has inspired this series.
The works depict various geological and meteorological phenomenon, including this painting of a landslide:-
Doing the Electric Landslide by Erica Putis – Oil on Canvas.
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This painting appears to be inspired by this photo of a landslide on Cecil Lake Road in Canada by R. Couture:-
The Cecil Lake road landslide, Peace River, photo by R. Couture (GSC), which appears to have inspired the work by Erica Putis.
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The painting rather beautifully captures the sad destruction of the natural environment caused by the landslide. There is a sense of melancholy and loss, which cannot be captured in a photograph.
Other editions of Landslides in Art can be found here.
Dave Petley is the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hull in the United Kingdom. His blog provides commentary and analysis of landslide events occurring worldwide, including the landslides themselves, latest research, and conferences and meetings.
I totally agree with your comment, “The painting rather beautifully captures the sad destruction of the natural environment caused by the landslide. There is a sense of melancholy and loss, which cannot be captured in a photograph.” Erica’s use of colours and what I will say is method (I am engineer because I have no artistic abaility) is amazing.
On a lighter note, I recall watching an episode of Thomas and Friend’s some time ago with one of my sons and the episode had a rather interesting ‘artist interpretation’ of landslide movement. I cannot recall the episode, or maybe it was one of the many ‘straight-to-DVD’ movies, but I will always remember being amused by how the landlside movement – of course a train or two was i the firing line – was animated.
All the best!