Carol McHarg (MC, ML)

Local artist:

Artist Statement
"My recent paintings address two powerful forces that shape the global environment – geology and modern engineering/land development. These works reflect my background as a landscape architect and employ my knowledge of ecology, design, cartography and of the impact of designers and developers who disregard the forces of the natural world. This narrative is embodied not only in the subject matter, but also in the style and materiality of my work. I combine symbolism with reality, perspective with flatness and an exaggerated configuration of nature overlaid with an artificial reconfiguration of the landscape. In 1982 I wrote a book titled Nature’s Design in which I explained how to design successful and fitting landscape environments using the principles and forces of nature."









"Carol S. McHarg has a studio in Philadelphia near Washington Square and commutes to New York weekly to teach landscape design at Columbia University. She has had exhibitions worldwide including those at Brad Cooper Gallery, Florida and The Pennsylvania Academy of fine Arts, Philadelphia. Her work is in several collections in Italy and the U.S. She is the author of the best selling book Nature’s Design, published by Rodale Press, in which she explained how to design with nature.
The recent works of Carol McHarg push the boundaries of contemporary landscape painting. She expresses her history and ideology as a Landscape Architect and at the same time moves the history of art onto a new plane. These powerful paintings look at ecology, design, cartography and the impacts of engineers and designers to question what is natural and what is not.

This narrative is embodied not only in the subject matter, but also in the style and materiality of the work. The artist combines symbolism with reality, perspective with flatness and an exaggerated configuration of nature overlaid with an artificial reconfiguration of the landscape. She questions what is natural and what is man made in the world at large and in the painting itself."

PO Box 778
Unionville, PA 19375
tel: 610-347-0311
e-mail: csmcharg@hotmail.com