Salt Lake City artist Kamille Corry is best-known for her figurative work — classical realism rooted in anatomical drawing and glistening with pearly flesh tones. The studio workshop she ran in Salt Lake City in the early aughts was one of our earliest articles. And she has just begun a multi-week workshop in SLC focusing on figure painting with ornamental backgrounds. But as she preps for that class, she is unpacking from several months abroad, painting en plein air.

“I have been going back to Italy each year to spend 2-3 months painting at a residence just outside the center of Florence, which has a rich history of art,” says Corry, whose formative training happened in the city. “It is an oasis within Florence, and it feels like you’re in the countryside, with its vast gardens and views of the hills above.” Her return this year was her first trip out of the U.S. since the Covid pandemic.

Being in Italy and painting outside came as a breath of fresh air. “I primarily paint en plein air when I’m there, mostly because I don’t have a studio, but also because the gardens are so inspiring, and it’s very liberating to work on landscapes outdoors after being in my own studio for most of the year. Italy has always been a bit of a second home for me — the place where I feel most at home as an artist — and my goal while I’m there is simply to paint love poems for a place that is always in my heart.”

She didn’t stop with Italy, however. She also visited Istanbul and Malta. “In Istanbul, I participated in a course with Art of Islamic Pattern, which focuses on techniques of historic Islamic designs. I did a few plein air watercolors while in Istanbul and Malta — definitely not a medium I am comfortable with, but easier to travel with than my oils on this trip. However I definitely plan on returning to both places to spend some concentrated time doing oil paintings.”

Kamille Corry is represented by Ann Long Fine Art in Charleston, SC and Winfield Gallery in Carmel, CA. You can view more of the artist’s work on Instagram.

Autumn Salon

Inspired by the French Salon d’Automne, a less formal alternative to the official Salon in the Spring, our Autumn Salon series highlights work Utah artist created during the summer months and informed by travel.