Katie Brooks Transforms Fallen Leaves into Breathtaking Artwork

https://www.facebook.com/ncstate/videos/719827945176444/

The world is your canvas. Meet Katie Brooks, a senior in the Art + Design program at the NC State College of Design with a minor in Arts Entrepreneurship from the NC State Department of Music. Katie regularly uses all kinds of leaves as her canvas — but it was actually a tree on campus by Park Shops that first inspired her to pick up a leaf to paint.

“I passed this ginkgo every day on my way to studio freshman year. It sounds silly, but I’d never seen one before and began to admire the tree in passing,” Katie said. “When the leaves turned gold and began to fall, I was so taken aback by them that I gathered as many as I could to press. Unlike most other leaves, ginkgo leaves have veins that are mostly flat. They were far too canvas-like to not paint! Although my painted leaves now come from a wide variety of plants, ginkgo leaves will always be special to me, and a favorite to paint. Although it isn’t quite old enough yet to take leaves from, I actually have a little ginkgo tree of my own now growing in my studio!”