It also happens to be where Obregon and his wife got married. ItвЂ™s a place of tranquility and history, beauty and life. When he walks through the historic railroad town, he feels like heвЂ™s walking back in time. вЂњI hope they think about how they experience nature and what they see.вЂќД¬auley Square is a special place for alumnus and art education adjunct professor Gerald Obregon M.A. Morales says when people look at her works, she hopes they see more than the trees and the sky. We realize we have to be more flexible, roll with the punches, keep going and try to enjoy what we can.вЂќ ItвЂ™s the process of observing, the brush strokes, pouring the paint on the canvas, mixing the colors. вЂњThis type of art is important to me personally. вЂњWhen doing plein air, the sun is going, clouds are moving, animals are flying around,вЂќ she says. Morales says this type of on-site, in the moment painting вЂ“ called plein air вЂ“ has a lesson to teach us. We had two hours or so, and we sketched out and painted it.вЂќ WeвЂ™re on the side of a mountain, and we set up little easels. One afternoon, we walked up to a village. And youвЂ™re enamored with the sights and the food and the people. вЂњItвЂ™s one of the best trips IвЂ™ve had in my life,вЂќ Morales says.

Like many students who trek to Italy or France during one of ChangвЂ™s study abroad courses, Lucia Morales вЂ™09, M.A. ItвЂ™s a thing for your eye to travel through.вЂќ ItвЂ™s something that you look at for a while and keep seeing new things to it, something new in each experience. I hope it evokes a sense of interest in people. вЂњYou paint, you feel it and you get into it,вЂќ she explains. With landscapes, she explains, artists re-create a scene, but they can also make it their own in a very personal way, changing the sunlight or the direction of the wind or the movement of the water. In fact, s he didn't just want to paint the scene. The water is large, but it draws you in close.вЂќ It has a certain kind of expanse and flow. There was something in the gesture of the weeds, the water. ItвЂ™s such a big space, but personally, I felt it was very small and quiet. ThatвЂ™s why she decided to paint this serene scene from Wakulla Springs, a habitat in Florida.В Albert first saw the scene in a photo her brother took of the spot.

Quiet spaces are precious, says Victoria Albert '16, M.A. Take a deep breath, curl up on your favorite spot, and enjoy the beauty of art. To celebrate the peace and joy that art can bring during the age of coronavirus, Chang and alumni trained in his Academy of Portrait and Figurative Art (alumni who are all local art educators themselves), have shared their art with FIU Magazine in the hopes of inspiring our readers to pick up their paint brushes and engage in art, or to simply look at these paintings and let the landscape call us into its story. Artist or not, rich or poor, we all have that response.В IвЂ™ve met very few people who would open the window on a beachfront hotel or house without saying, 'Wow.'' The vastness is the ever-infinite sky, itвЂ™s the depth of field, it gives human beings this calming quality. вЂњLandscape throughout history has served rich and poor, itвЂ™s given that quality of nature brought home. вЂњHuman beings are naturally drawn to vastness in scenery,вЂќ explains renowned artist and Chair of the Department of Art + Art History David Chang. While few of us these days are venturing out of our homes, much less visiting the Everglades or other nature preserves, t here is still a way of bringing the peace of nature into our homes. A number of scientific studies have found it can help lower cortisol and blood pressure levels, and even alleviate depression and anxiety.

Scenery painting