Genevieve May

Scarlet Begonias

Genevieve May is celebrated for her distinctive fusion of typography and symbolic realism. Coming from a diverse creative background, including painters, authors, filmmakers, fashion designers, sculptors and musicians, she embraces different mediums to convey the human experience. Her work often integrates elements of fashion, music and calligraphic poetry to convey her narrative. Although painting is central to her work, May’s practice is multifaceted, fusing together visual art with music, calligraphy, symbolism, cinematography, and fashion elements. She feels that her artistic language cannot be confined to a single medium. Raised in a renovated tobacco barn in a rural town outside of Northampton, Massachusetts, Genevieve May was born the daughter of accomplished artists and authors, Dennis Nolan and Lauren Mills. Genevieve remembers many formative trips to museums, art classes, and gallery openings. As a child she studied classical drawing, calligraphy and painting with her parents and later studied figure drawing and sculpting at Lyme Academy, all before the age of fifteen. Upon entering high school she took credited college courses in egg tempera painting and in addition, studied watercolor and fresco painting with her parents in Europe. Later, Genevieve studied color theory and cadaver life drawing at Stamford University. Here she was able to practice the old renaissance tradition of dissecting human bodies in order to improve figurative drawing skills. She attributes her knowledge and deep understanding of the human form to this intensive. Once she felt that she had grasped the techniques her education provided, she summoned her art forms and created her own methods of self expression and story telling. ​ Genevieve May currently lives and creates alongside her partner, artist E.C. Baugh, in New York City.