Creating Art with New Landscapes
Guest post by Modo ambassador Jean Huang
Road trip playlists—downloaded. Snacks and cooler—packed. Camping gear—check. Art supplies and rolls of blank canvases—ready. My partner and I carefully loaded everything into the trunk of our Modo Toyota Rav-4 Hybrid (chosen for a more sustainable way to travel for a long trip) like a game of Jenga, and then hopped in with our dog for a month-long road trip across three provinces (BC, Alberta, and Saskatchewan). As an artist who creates outdoors and is deeply inspired by Nature, my blank canvases and I were filled with anticipation to meet new landscapes.
We were met with nostalgic prairie scenes in Alberta—quiet gravel roads sandwiched between endless fields where you can see for kilometres and watch the sun move across the sky without anything obstructing your view. Driving through the endless fields, you would never suspect that the flat land would suddenly drop off to reveal a hidden stretch of badlands. We arrived at Dinosaur Provincial Park at sunset, parked at a cliff overlooking the park, and watched as the last light kissed the tops of the hoodoos. We set up camp at dusk and fell asleep listening to the distant calls of coyotes.
The next day, I brought my canvas on our hike. As we walked along the dusty trails, I noticed how there were wavy white lines in the ground reminiscent of rivers viewed from above. I learned that the lines were left behind by riverbeds that once flowed through this now parched landscape—it was as if I was looking at a memory carved into the ground.
I gently laid my canvas on the ground and traced the intricate lines. There was something surreal about being in a landscape that existed both as a preserved and living history book.
I also noticed some creamy taupe-coloured mud on the trail. I dipped my canvas into the mud and was surprised to find it dried on the canvas in the same crumbly texture as the badlands itself. One of my favourite aspects of creating outside is the sense of surprise.
I never fully know how a piece will develop since the land is an active collaborator in the process, but I have found that the works often resemble the landscapes that they are from.
I love to invite both the weather and the land to directly contribute their own colours, textures, and compositions to the canvases.
On this road trip, we travelled through diverse landscapes and experienced weather that felt like different seasons—all of which were documented on the canvas like field notes.
In a way, I see these artworks as both a collaboration with Nature and an archive of the landscapes—a representation of how they look and feel in the present moment.
After a day of wandering in the warm sun, we climbed back into our Modo, put on ‘Heat Waves’ by Glass Animals for the millionth time, and continued on our trip, excited for what new art and wild landscapes we would meet next. To view Jean Huang’s art making process and the development of the works she created on the trip, find her on Instagram: @j3anhuang.art
