Brooke Yost

Brooke is a Studio Art major from Peachtree Corners, Georgia. Her preferred mediums are painting and ceramics. She is inspired by her love of nature and memories of growing up on the Chattahoochee River. Brooke uses a mix of realism and impressionism in her paintings. After graduating, Brooke hopes to become a high school art teacher so she can help inspire future generations of artists.

Website: brookeyostart6.wixsite.com

Artist Statement

Growing up on the Chattahoochee instilled in me a deep love for nature. As a child, my dad would take my sisters and I kayaking, hiking, and swimming here. The river is a crucial part of my identity, and it is where I feel most centered and most grounded. To me, it is the most beautiful place in the world, and I’m lucky to call it home. This project was inspired by my desire to celebrate the beauty of the Chattahoochee as well as my need to protect it. My landscape paintings highlight the serenity of the river, while my ceramics focus on the issue of littering by incorporating glass found there.

The scenes I paint are calm and romantic, but they are also based on photos taken by myself, a friend from high school, and a friend I met at the river. This is special to me because these images represent a moment in time enjoyed and captured by myself or my loved ones. I aim to evoke the sense of peacefulness and harmony in accordance with the river that I feel when I am there. Hopefully, my audience will share the appreciation I have for the beauty of the Chattahoochee.

For my ceramics, I created my own clay body using sediment from the river to bring the physical place to my audience. Because the physical medium of ceramics is tangible, I can better connect viewers to my art. Glass found at the Chattahoochee is most often brown, clear, and green, which reflects the natural colors of the river. The glass demonstrates the issue of littering and the practice of recycling by turning something ugly into something beautiful. When I find the glass, it is broken, sharp, dangerous, and out of place. Once it’s melted down in my pottery, it not only becomes part of the art, but it is immortalized with the river it was littered upon. This brings new life through transforming something that was once discarded into something that is to be admired.

Project Description

The Chattahoochee River inspires my work because I believe it is the most beautiful place in the world. I grew up there and consider it a central part of who I am. Each of my paintings are done using acrylic paint, and they reference photos taken by myself or my friends. The images I selected for this series demonstrate the tranquility of the river. The scenes vary in time of day to show off the beautiful colors found there. My ceramic plates are thrown with a clay body I created using sediment from the river and are decorated with glass that was littered there. By using glass that was littered, I turn something that was once discarded into art to be admired and appreciated. Through my work, I hope to instill a sense of responsibility for the nature that surrounds us by demonstrating the beauty of the Chattahoochee River and my relationship with it.