The Inspiration of the Natural World

Whenever they are away from their New York City studios, painter Rebecca Allan and her partner, composer Laura Kaminsky, spend as much time as they can hiking. They work together in the same place, but take different things from it. Allan might set up to paint on a rock overlooking river rapids, and Kaminsky might put on headphones and compose. They experience a specific landscape more richly through the other’s creative endeavor.

Growing up, Allan lived near the Great Lakes. The seasonal cycles of Lake Erie and the gradual erosion of a familiar shoreline along that lake became visual touchstones of her early experience of the world. A position at the Seattle Art Museum led her to the Pacific Northwest, where, as a painter, she initially found the size and scale of the Northwest mountains and forests intimidating. “I was overwhelmed by the scale,” Allan says, “especially compared to the Northeastern woodlands. But I became close to two painters, who helped me come to terms with the scale of this place.”