March 6, 2014

Artist Spotlight Series: Britt Bass Turner

Abstract Art, Art, Athens, atlanta, Britt Bass, Britt Bass Turner, Georgia, Gregg Irby Fine Art, UGA

I am excited to introduce you to a lovely Southern talent with a penchance for color like my own. I have a feeling you will be seeing loads more of Britt Bass in the future. I had the pleasure of viewing her work first hand yesterday at Gregg Irby Fine Art.

Britt Bass Turner

Athens, GA

What is your training?

I studied painting at UGA’s Lamar Dodd School of Art and received my BFA in Art Educaiton with a specialty in Painting in May of 2011.

Pictures all by the talented Jen Siska for my shoot with Anthology Magazine last Summer.

What inspires you and your designs?

Almost everything! I gather inspiration from many places and try to fill up from multiple resources. In a broad sense I am truly inspired by daily life- I am surrounded by and take note of palettes, shapes, textures and compositions.

More specifically, I am inspired by flipping through art, design, and lifestyle books, magazines, and blogs (a few include: DeKooning, Amy Sillman, Basquiat, The Selby, New American Paintings, Art Forum, Anthology, Kinfolk, domino, Emily Henderson, Design Love Fest, Curate 1k, Wit & Delight, etc, etc!). We are part of generation rich with visual information.

Beautiful images are so easily accessible via social media- all I have to do is open up pinterest or instagram to feed my right brain and get pumped up to paint something pretty and exciting to add to the visual conversation.

What is your favorite piece?

What a hard question! I think it would have to be Warm Geos. I painted it last spring on a warm Saturday in March.

How has the your area influenced your work?

The South has a rich cultural history in the arts and Southerners take great pride our food, music, land, and story telling. My paintings tell a small part of this story of the South and I, too, take great pride in that!

What is your favorite restaurant in (your city)?

I’m half Athens, half Atlanta right now so I’ll answer for both because my husband and I love to try new places! Ok, Athens I’d have to say Mamas Boy for Breakfast,

the National for Lunch and Cocktails, and Last Resort for Dinner and Desert.

For Atlanta, I love Antico, JCT Kitchen, and Empire State South!

What is your favorite cocktail?

My husband has me hooked on a good Old Fashioned– the best I’ve ever had was in Charleston at HUSK! I love anything whiskey or gin and most always try something new on the specialty list, but Horse’s Neck

and Tom Collins are my go-tos.

How do you balance personal life and work?

I’m a work in progress in this area- it’s so hard because painting is my personal life AND my work! The two so often intersect, but I am trying to be better about setting hours and drawing boundaries as life is getting busier. It is so important to me to keep my time with my husband and community sacred and not let work overflow. My amazing friend and business consultant, Shanna Skidmore, has been such a blessing in helping me with this!

Dream trip?

I have two right now. 1. I studied British Art and Architecture for a few semesters in college and I cannot wait to go one day and visit all the places I studied.