Courtney Miller Bellairs
Assistant Dean, Student Affairs, Senior Lecturer
Office: ARC 1251 | Phone: 301-405-6286 | Email
B.S. Arch., 1991, University of Maryland; M. Arch., 1996, Yale University
Inspired by an education in art and architecture, Courtney Miller Bellairs explores space, scale, structure and ideas about the relationships between art and architecture in her work. Her professional work, including oil and watercolor paintings, collage, and more recently, assemblage, encourages the viewer to contemplate ideas about architecture.
Bellairs' work often depicts everyday life from a unique viewpoint; cropped and composed to bring certain characteristics to the attention of the viewer. Her paintings focus on space and surface described by color, light and shadow and the relationships between objects and materials. The organization of objects and colors results in the description of an environment or situation and a light specific to each work. Her collage and assemblage pieces investigate ideas about representing environments and communicating moods, textures and readings through two and three dimensions. The notion of the plan, section and elevation become important tools for understanding her work.
Bellairs carries these ideas through into her teaching work, which includes architectural design studios at the undergraduate and graduate levels in the U.S. and abroad. In Fall 2008, she took on the additional role of managing the undergraduate architecture program, including advising and chairing the introductory 400 studio. She also teaches courses in visual communication, conventional architectural drawing, and representation through diverse media, both traditional and digital. By student request, Professor Miller Bellairs developed a new seminar course for the Spring 2008 semester entitled "Art and Architecture." This course explores architecture through diverse media, influencing spatial proposals. This course engages students in making images that inspire ideas about space and are used to inform the design process.
Bellairs' research work includes post-occupancy recordings (through making drawings) of buildings to evaluate the intentions of client, architect and building team. These images communicate the impact of materials, textures, colors and spatial configurations through the recording of light. Images made through drawing and painting, rather than photography, capture the essence of a place in a selective/diagrammatic and human way. She is also very intrigued by the phenomenon of students learning about architecture through drawing in real places.
Bellairs studied at the University of Maryland, the Yale School of Art and the Yale School of Architecture, where she received a Master of Architecture degree in 1996. After graduate school, Courtney welcomed the opportunity to live and work in London, U.K. where she built a multi-disciplinary practice as an artist, designer and lecturer. One of her most recent commissions was for the Crown Estate in London. Returning to the U.S. in 2006, she joined the School as an Adjunct Faculty member. Courtney has received numerous prizes to pursue her work related to art and architecture and her pieces are included in private and corporate collections throughout the U.S., U.K., Ireland, South Africa, Australia and China.