Among the works on display at Atelier 25 will be Elephant Cathedral by Edson Campos and Spring Symphony by Kathleen Brodeur. Campos and Brodeur have staged exhibitions individually and as a couple at CityArts, where they were married in 2008. | Courtesy Edson Campos and Kathleen Brodeur
For Edson Campos and Kathleen Brodeur, Central Florida is a sacred place. It’s where they fell in love. It’s where they grew as artists. It’s where they established their careers. It’s also where they found inspiration for their work in sometimes unexpected places.
One such place is along the shore of Lake Maitland in Winter Park’s Kraft Azalea Garden, where a banyan tree stands. They visit there so often that they’ve come to consider the tree an old friend who has insights to share. Brodeur, for example, says she has often asked the multi-trunked behemoth, “What’s next?”
In the spring, she decided to visit this sacred space every day for 30 days to document the tree and the happenings around it. A resulting painting, Spring Symphony, will be featured in what’s next: Atelier 25 at CityArts in Downtown Orlando. The exhibition will run from September 18 to October 12. (“Atelier,” by the way, is a French word that means private workshop or studio of a professional artist.)
The couple has staged a dozen exhibitions in the venue—where they were married in 2008—over the years. As usual, in addition to showing their magical, mystical and meticulously wrought paintings and drawings, they’ll paint live at times that had not been set at press time.
“Atelier 25 is meant to celebrate our life because our art is our life; it’s what we do,” says Brodeur. “After all these years we still keep striving. And we want to share our journey as artists to inspire other people.”
Born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Campos’s career has ranged from an illustrator for children’s books and newspapers to a muralist and an animator. When he arrived in Central Florida roughly 45 years ago, he switched his focus to fine art.
And quite successfully, at that. In 2020, he was awarded a Gold Medal at the Société des Artistes Français (Society of French Artists) Art Capital Exhibition in Paris, France, for his oil painting Birth of a Dream.
A graduate of Florida State University, Brodeur was granted a public art commission to create 18 large oil paintings depicting Florida’s vast and beautiful landscapes. The works were displayed in the central lobby of the Orange County Convention Center in 2001.
Like her husband, Brodeur is internationally acclaimed. In 2019, for example, she won a Merit Award for her oil painting Haru at the Société des Artistes Français Art Capital Exhibition. The painting, Haru, Birth of a Dream, and many others will be on view at CityArts. Says Brodeur: “All of our work is from our heart.”
Adds Campos: “We’re still true to ourselves, and we inspire each other. I see her doing some things and think, ‘I have to upgrade my game.’ So it’s a positive competition. It’s fun, though, to have that. It keeps us bringing new work to the public.”
CityArts is located at 39 South Magnolia Avenue, Orlando. For more information, call 407.648.7060 or visit downtownartsdistrict.com.
