Charlotte Nairn
Magic Sceptre, 1999
monotype
22 1/2 x 16 inches

Charlotte Nairn
Shoots of Passion, 2000
monotype
22 1/2 x 18 inches

Scapes: Monotypes by Charlotte Nairn
The Contemporary Museum at First Hawaiian Center
October 5, 2007 - January 8, 2008
 
Surrounded by majestic views and tropical vegetation at her home on the Big Island, Charlotte Nairn is inspired to create impressionistic portraits of the natural world around her. Nairn's monotypes of Hawaiian flowers, seascapes, sky, and mountains achieve a feeling of spontaneity through loose brushstrokes, the manipulation of the medium on the printing plate, and choice of subject matter. Nairn's monotypes are created by painting or drawing directly onto a smooth Plexiglas or zinc plate. The image is then transferred onto a sheet of paper by pressing the two together through a printing-press. With monotyping there is no permanent matrix, and at most two impressions, the original and a "ghost print", can be obtained.

Charlotte Nairn studied Art History in Florence, Italy; Paris, France; and London, England; and studied Fine Art at the National Academy of Design in New York. Her paintings and monotypes have been in numerous exhibitions in New York and featured in Art Fairs throughout the United States. Nairn was born in Wilmington, Delaware. She currently resides near Kamuela on the Big Island of Hawai'i and keeps a studio in New York.