Her Happy Place | Carla Gignilliat

Written By: Luke Osteen | Issue: 2021/06 – June | Photograph By: Susan Renfro

Carla Gignilliat

When you browse ACP Interiors in Highlands, it’s a little bit like a tumble through the Rabbit Hole. The showroom is filled with objects and artworks vying for your attention, each unique and demanding a browse and careful evaluation. 

But you can’t help but be ensorcelled by the paintings of Carla Gignilliat scattered throughout. Her landscapes and waterfall portraits are immediate and irresistible. 

What’s palpable isn’t simply the image of untrammeled nature, but the astonishing power that resonates from it. You feel the reverent hush that’s embedded within a mountain vista and the comforting rumble of a secluded waterfall.

Through some strange alchemy of technique and an artist’s unerring eye, there’s magic here and mystery. 

Somehow, Carla has captured the feel of the Plateau and its wild places. It’s a process that she’s been working on her entire life.

“Ever since I was a little girl, I loved being outside in nature,” she says. “I had a horse as a young adult and spent many a day riding my bike to my friend’s house where my horse was boarded and spending our days riding and exploring the woods and neighborhoods of Bettendorf, Iowa.”

And if you look carefully at those scenes captured in acrylic, you can almost feel transported to some place here on the Plateau. 

That’s by design, and by a deep, transcendent connection to this corner of the Southern Appalachians.  

“Having been a transplant to Atlanta from Iowa in 2003, I wasn’t aware of Highlands until my now husband took me for the first time in the winter of 2009, shortly after we started dating,” she says. “At that time, most of Highlands was shut down for the winter, but I fell in love with the town and surrounding landscape. He had been visiting there since childhood, and it quickly became a “happy place” for me as well and now for our two children.  We love the area so much that we became proud owners of our second home in Scaly Mountain four years ago, and we visit whenever we have the opportunity.

“What resonated with me about the Highlands-Cashiers Plateau were the beautiful views just driving around, the gorgeous waterfalls and easily accessible trails, the peace and quiet I felt within myself when I visited there, the connection I felt with the people I was there with, the smells of the fresh air and flora growing everywhere. Some paintings I’ve done based on the area include Lake Ravenel at the Highlands Nature Center. I’ve also painted Mirror Lake on a snowy day, the trail at Osage Mountain on a foggy day, several foggy paintings of Dillard Road, and the view from the Whiteside Mountain Trail. I’ve also painted several deer and black bears inspired by witnessing them in the area. My goal this year is to paint even more paintings of the area, including Dry Falls, Old Edwards Inn, and the Vineyard at High Holly.”

If you want to understand the magic at the heart of Carla’s work, look, really look, at the paintings here on the page, or visit her website, carlagignilliat.com. For the most compelling encounter with her creations, visit ACP Home Interiors at 1990 Dillard Road on the outskirts of Highlands. You’ll see that I’m not being hyperbolic about this artist and her work.