Artist Statement
NUIT is a series of photographs taken in the evening and early morning of the landscapes of France, while in residency at the Dora Maar House in Menerbes, France. This series conveys in this imagery the quiet of the evening and the stillness that can be felt when observing landscapes without interruption of light and even sound. The experience of the viewers eyes adjusting to the light, and being able to see in the dark is carried further when the camera can collect light over a period of time. It makes what was not visible, now visible. The silhouettes of the trees, slight movement of the stars, combined with a blue tone reflect upon the experience of observing the landscape by moonlight and the earliest touch of the sun. Process Statement
Water’s Edge, is inspired by Ikebana arrangement, and the focus on where the plants meet the water. This junction is called Mizugiwa, and the idea is to form a straight line with the stems of the plants at the waterline, indicating a place of strength. It shows where something beautiful has come from the intersection of two different planes. I learned this practice working on a Japanese Opera for Houston Grand Opera, and as I was studying it, I started to notice how many of my photographs emphasize the meeting of land and water. It was very serendipitous, and I started to focus on this element in my composition.
These images are printed using both traditional analog as well as digital chromogenic techniques. All are monochromatic and a tad over exposed, emphasizing the delicacy as well as the beauty in these intersecting planes.

 

 

Libbie Masterson is an artist working in photography, sculpture, installation, and set design. Her interest in photography began with extensive travels through Norway, Iceland, Alaska, and Antarctica. These journeys first inspired the series Ís (Ice). These large-scale photographs, illuminated with light panels, scale up to 70 feet in length, and have been exhibited at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, the Barbara Davis Gallery, Houston and the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston. They would inspire a stage set for the Dominic Walsh Dance Theatre and the Sarasota Ballet, The Mozart Trilogy, performed in Houston, Dallas, New York and Tokyo.
In 2009, with an Individual Artists Grant from the Houston Arts Alliance Masterson ventured to West Texas, developing a photographic essay of the evening in Texas. She continued this study with the series Nuit in Provence, after being awarded a Brown Foundation Fellowship by the MFAH, with a residency at the Dora Maar House. This series would be adapted for the creation of a second ballet set design for Dominic Walsh, Claudel. IN the Spring of 2013, with the help of a crowd of volunteers and a Kickstarter campaign, she also created a temporary site-specific installation in Hermann Park, Houston, of large floating waterlilies that lit up at night This ran in concurrence with designing a set for the Houston Grand Opera, HGOco. Titled Memory Stone, the opera is based on the Japanese Garden in the Park. This past Fall, in collaboration with filmmaker Ford Gunter, she created a video component for the Houston Symphony’s performance of Karim Al-Zand’s City Scenes. Last summer she completed a commission for Southwest Airlines for the new Hobby Airport International Wing. She is currently working on her next body of work, Spectrum. She is represented by the Catherine Couturier Gallery, Houston.