"Ever since I was young, I've wanted to be a painter and a runner," says Talia Sullivan, cross country, cycling, and track and field graduate student. A collection of her recent work will be featured at a gallery show in London later this month. Her large-scale works take inspiration from the time she spends in nature as a runner and cyclist. "Most of my time is spent outside, in my paintings I try to capture that."

Talia grew up in rural England where she took up landscape painting.  She was inspired by her mother who is a cold-water swimmer and a water landscape artist. "Creating massive landscapes is a part of me," Talia says.

As an underclassman at SCAD, Talia took classes in painting techniques of all kinds. Her work in studios focusing on oil, abstract, and watercolor painting allowed her to discover her style. In her senior year, she used her foundational studies to create a series of large-scale paintings for her professional portfolio.

The series includes large-scale canvases with abstract backgrounds and small figures scattered throughout the space.  To create the backgrounds, Talia lets the paint control the process. "I have the canvas on the floor, and I add water and ink, then I come back day after day to see how it sits," she says. For her environments, she prefers to use natural colors. "I like how it feels like an explosion of earth."

"Beach Day" by Talia Sullivan

When the background is set and dry, Talia scatters small figures across the canvas. "I've been trying to create an immersive experience," she says. Her figures seem distant to the viewer as if they are unaware that they are being viewed at all. "They're just trying to make their way across the landscape," she says.

The large scale of her work emphasizes the figures' relationship with the space. "I've started emphasizing the figure's relationship with the space," Talia says. She began working out ideas for this series in a sketchbook. She had her doubts about expanding the scale, but her peers and professors encouraged her to try.  "Once I took the step to go bigger," she says, "I never want to go smaller again."

 "All my recent work are aerial views, when you look from that point of view you look from a place of power," Talia says. In early ideation for this series, she began with individuals or small groups of figures. As she increased the scale of her landscapes, she added more people to fill the space. Although the figures have individual characteristics, their identities are unclear. "You look at the people and think they're too small to do something significant on a broad scale until you realize you are one of them," Talia says.
 

Talia's time spent running and cycling outdoors strongly influences her work. Her work as an athlete has also helped form her artistic process. "I'm very scheduled in how I paint," she says, "that comes from being so regimented in my training."

 Her dedication to her athletic achievements has been proven. Talia helped lead the Bee's Cross Country team to its second perfect score at the Sun Conference Championship this fall and placed 40th at the NAIA National Championship. "I get all the happiness I need from painting and running," she says.

Talia completed her BFA this fall and will return to SCAD to complete her MFA in Painting this winter. Over the break, she will be featured as a new upcoming artist at the Brick Lane Gallery in London for their show "Emerge". As her artistic journey continues, Talia remains open to any endeavors that may interest her. "I like my work to be multifaceted and have room for deeper underlying emotion," she says. "I just want to promote thought, that's the goal."