ida floreak

Science and the natural world meet in the otherworldly yet photorealistic still-life paintings of New Orleans-based artist Ida Floreak.

Artist: Grew up in Cambridge, MA, and earned a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, where she studied painting and scientific illustration.

As part of a college program, Floreak spent a year in Rome, where she became fascinated with Italian devotional art of the Renaissance and Middle Ages. She moved to New Orleans in 2011.

Studio: Since 2016, Floreak has had studio in an artists’ building in the city’s upper Ninth Ward.

In the beginning: Grew up going to the rocky beaches in Maine and exploring the tidal pools, where she began filling her pockets with rocks, shells and leaves.

Always interested in biology and nature, Floreak admits she wasn’t a scientist by nature. But she found a path through art, which gave her a way “to explore these interests and questions without having to come to definitive answers.”

Art & materials: Oil paintings on birch panel of objects found in nature and arranged to evoke altars or auguries.

Prices and sizes vary from $500 for a 4-inch by 4-inch piece to $3,000 for a piece 24 inches by 24 inches. A larger painting (60 inches by 48 inches) may sell for $6,700. (All prices are subject to change.)

Process:

Gathers objects, including quartz, tiny animal bones, leaves, cracked eggs and delicate insect shells, during walks.
Pulls objects from her personal collection, such as bones, gems, leaves and insects, and arranges in formations reminiscent of the Italian grotteschi and devotional art.
Selects one or two objects that she wants to be the main focus or in conversation with each other.
Paints seven thin layers of gesso on birch to get a smooth surface.
Do an underpainting in yellow ochre or raw Sienna.
For small work, the bulk of the painting is made in one pass, but later more layers are added to increase depth and contrast.
Waits about two weeks between layers for the paint to dry.

Favorite tool: A fan brush for soft blending.

Inspiration(s):

The natural world and its treasures. For example, the structure of a leaf, the iridescence of a beetle. Floreak finds the sacred in the smallest artifacts of nature and a reverence for the environment.
Anything that is made as an act of reverence or devotion.
19th century scientific illustrations.
Medieval and Renaissance paintings.

Fun or special commissions: Her first commission: A seven-foot-tall triptych for the Mississippi-based photographer Ashleigh Coleman.

Recent project: A podcast with Good Folk (goodfolkonly.org), episode 14. Good Folk features a newsletter and podcasts about people and stories of the South.

What’s next: A group show, “The Dandelion: Symbol of Resilience,” at Longue Vue House & Gardens in New Orleans. Opening March 9.

Where to buy: For prints: Idafloreak.com. For original pieces, check the following galleries: