For artist Kathleen Brodeur, Winter Park’s Kraft Azalea Garden is a sacred place. In particular, she has been inspired by a banyan tree that has graced the shores of Lake Maitland for perhaps 100 years. In fact, she visits the spot so often that she has come to consider the tree an old friend.
In the spring, she decided to visit this sacred space every day for 30 days to document the tree and the happenings around it. “I was observing, listening, writing and absorbing the energy of the garden,” she says. “I listened to the echoes of the baby egrets and baby owls chirping in the wind anxiously waiting for food from their mothers.”
She also heard children laughing, live music and, not infrequently, marriage ceremonies at the nearby exedra. Says Brodeur: “The banyan tree is the witness to the everyday life experiences throughout the generations here in Winter Park.”
A resulting painting, Spring Symphony, is the cover image for the Fall issue of Winter Park Magazine. It marks Brodeur’s first—but hopefully not only—cover image for the publication.
Brodeur, a graduate of Florida State University with a degree in visual communications and studio art, says that nature inspires most of her work. In fact, that sensibility helped her to earn her first major public-art commission in 2000: A series of 18 large oil paintings of Florida landscapes that were displayed in the central lobby of the Orange County Convention Center.
More recently, Brodeur’s artistic journey has taken her to France, where in 2016 she participated in an artist-in-residence program in the city of Antibes. And for the past 12 years, she has been invited to display her work at the prestigious Société des Artistes Français Art Capital Exhibition, where in 2019 she won a Merit Award for her oil painting Haru.
You can see Haru—as well as Spring Symphony—at an upcoming exhibition, Atelier 25 at CityArts in Downtown Orlando. The exhibition, which will feature work from Brodeur and her husband, fellow artist Edson Campos, will run from September 18 to October 12. (“Atelier,” by the way, is a French word that means private workshop or studio of a professional artist.)
The couple has staged a dozen exhibitions in the venue—which is particularly meaningful to them because they were married there in 2008. Among several other notable joint showcases of their work was one at the St. Louis University School of Art in 2017.
As usual, in addition to showing their magical, mystical and meticulously wrought paintings and drawings, both artists will paint live at least twice during the upcoming exhibition’s run. “I enjoy inspiring others to believe in their creative spirits,” notes Brodeur. “I trust that as I venture out on my artistic journey, I’ll be led to exactly where I’m supposed to be.”
CityArts is located at 39 South Magnolia Avenue, Orlando. For more information, call 407-648-7060 or visit downtownartsdistrict.com. And for more information about Brodeur, visit
kathleenbrodeurfineart.com.
—Randy Noles