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Park City’s Nadeau will paint live during arts festival

When Lululemon leads free yoga sessions at the SKY and Zoom patios during the Park City Kimball Arts Festival on Saturday and Sunday morning, the fitness gurus will be joined by world-renowned painter Josée Nadeau.

Nadeau, who calls Park City home, will highlight the sessions and paint live from 9 a.m. until 10 a.m.

Instead of painting her trademark water lilies or horses, she plans to paint portraits of Cecil, the lion killed by Minnesota dentist Walter Palmer earlier this week.

" What happened in the past week has affected many people, and, more importantly, Cecil, this beautiful lion," Nadeau said. "I feel if you want to feel, as a human being, grounded and stable, you can do it through yoga, but it’s also important to be aware of what’s going on around you in the world. I decided that I would paint something that had more meaning at this moment and that the animal’s spirit will still be with us."

Nadeau, known for painting at live events for Dionne Warwick, the Footsteps of Mandela and the Salt Lake Symphony, has also gained recognition by her clients who include Robert Kennedy Jr., polo player Tommy Kato, actress Frances Fisher, actor and producer Clint Eastwood, and actor Pierce Brosnan, among others.

Earlier this year, Nadeau agreed to paint a portrait of Brosnan as King Louis XIV, a role he is playing in the upcoming film, "The Moon and the Sun."

"I have known Pierce since 2000 when he asked to be invited to one of my exhibits in Montreal," Nadeau said. "He purchased one of my water lilies from Claude Monet’s garden paintings. It’s quite an honor, because he danced around each painting, saying that he wanted them all."

Last year, Brosnan sent Nadeau a photo of himself during the filming of "The Moon and the Sun" at the Palace of Versailles.

"It meant something to me because I was the protégé of Gerald Van der Kemp who’s wife Florence was responsible of setting up the Versailles Foundation," Nadeau said. "It was her who offered me the opportunity to work in Claude Monet’s studio for 10 years."

Nadeau met Brosnan for lunch in May and they talked about the creative process and that’s when she announced the portrait.

"Pierce is a fabulous family man and his love and passion for life is beyond anyone I have ever met," she said. "He and his wife Keely Shaye Smith are collectors and it is an honor [that one of my paintings is hanging] in their home entryway for the pass 15 years."

This is one of many artistic opportunities that have come Nadeau’s way in the past few months.

During the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year, she presented a show that featured Lord Frederick Windsor as her guest of honor. A few days later, she met Kweku Mandela, the grandson of the late South Africa leader Nelson Mandela."

"This was special because I had painted during the Footsteps of Mandela, which was in honor of Nelson Mandela’s birthday," Nadeau said.

The event raised money for the United Nations and Simon Estes Foundation’s Nothing But Nets program, which is a global campaign that fights malaria, which is the leading cause of death in African children, according to its mission statement at http://www.nothingbutnets.net .

"I felt a connection to the Mandela family because of that and then I received a telephone call from Nissa Alloy-Stanfield that said I should go to the Christian Center of Park City because Kweku was going to be there," Nadeau said. "So, I decided to take my painting of Nelson Mandela and they hung it up."

A few minutes later, the younger Mandela arrived and saw the painting.

"As Kweku is talking to me, [award-winning filmmaker and founder of the Utah Film Center] Geralyn Dreyfous arrives, sees us together with the painting and starts crying right before she was supposed to give a speech," Nadeau said. "During that talk, she said, ‘This is what Sundance is all about. It’s about this connection of gathering talent together spontaneously.’"

Mandela also spoke emphasizing the importance of having Nadeau as an ambassador that will continue to keep his grandfather’s voice and awareness alive through painting.

"Footsteps for Peace, which is a continuation of the Footsteps of Mandela, is creating another event in West Palm Beach, Florida, in February where Nadeau will paint again, she said.

The third project the painter did this past year was a 10-foot portrait of Stein Eriksen that is mounted in the entry of the Stein Eriksen Lodge.

"This was done for Stein’s 87th birthday and the lodge purchased it," Nadeau said. "It was such an honor for me, I wanted to create a painting that Stein Eriksen would approve being such a legend in the community.

"My palate is very much a pure palate," she said. "Monet used a tertiary palate where all the colors mixed together, but I use primary and secondary colors. I find them refreshing." http://www.joseenadeau.com

The Park City Kimball Arts Festival will continue Aug. 1 and 2 on Main Street. For more information, visit http://www.kimballartcenter.org . For more information about Josee Nadeau, visit http://www.joseenadeau.com ..


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