“Painting is my way of taking the indefinable pieces of life and making them into a meaningful, integrated whole, forever living on the surface of the canvas. I consider my work emotional abstract. Each collection represents the changing of families, the power of a generation of people, and the void left when a generation is gone. Using the well-worn brushes of my mother’s and my late grandmother’s, I find fulfillment in each stroke, carrying on a legacy of appreciation for the visual form. Each piece brings me closer to understanding the depth of relationships and the intricacy of family.” - Britt Bates
As a fifth-generation artist, Britt Bates has always seen the world through the lens of an artist. Raised by a painter and a musician, she witnessed the magic that exists when one’s passion and work are the same. Bates creates her own magic painting from her Charleston, South Carolina studio. Her style is characterized by spontaneous strokes with descriptive lines in earthy colors. Influenced by the work of William Scott and Hyunmee Lee, she chooses to use a limited color palette as she discovers the range of emotions within the shapes in her work.