Our bodies are mostly water, and we are an intimate part of the hydrological cycle. Think about this when you first awaken – we are all water filters. We intrinsically know this, and that all life depends on water. Looking at water, or a painting of water, resonates emotionally in our bodies and minds.
I am primarily a perceptual oil painter, using imagination to explore the rhythms and forms that appear on the canvas. The colors I choose are arbitrary, and paint is layered until I see movement and life. The interaction of water and light is what interests me, and by painting water without a horizon, I am able to capture its abstract nature.
Many artists have been called by water, and we have been testing the hypothesis that art can lead to positive action to help heal our world. We have considerable evidence that it does.
In the summer of 2018, I designed a class at the Seattle Artist League: Art, Activism and the Salish Sea. I collaborated with the students to do a book, “Artists Celebrate the Salish Sea”, which is available on Amazon.
All profits go to the Salish Sea Project, a film alerting us to what is happening in the sea, particularly with the Orcas and their prey, the Chinook Salmon. SAL hosted an fund-raising exhibition of 25 artists who also helped to support this project. Both the book and the film offer specific ideas on how each of us can make a difference in supporting clean water, wherever we may live.
This April, Giana Pilar Gonzales and I will do a workshop at the Foundations of Art and Education Conference in Columbus, Ohio. In “Water Journeys”, we will all work with images to explore our individual relationships with water, and how this relates to identity, value, ethics and our future actions.