COAST SERIES STATEMENT

COAST is a series I began summer 2023, inspired by time spent near the water. The warm weather, history of place, and heightened senses bring balance and energy to me, a constant since childhood. I hope my paintings bring memories to viewers of precious time at the coast. Art comes from our subconscious, the wild, untamed parts of humans finds a root and grows to the surface. We seek ways to let it free and working on this collection is the unfurling of my attraction to blue spaces.

In challenge or celebration, I am constantly drawn to the water’s edge like a magnet, seeking solitude, beauty and energy. I am so connected to the ocean, natural spaces and salty atmosphere, coupled with the visual audacity of the landscapes growing up on the Cape in Massachusetts, the Caribbean and the Mediterranean. We know there is science connected to the brain’s recognition of color for humans and animals. Reflected wavelengths of color hit us like a drug. Colorful water is probably as close as humans can get to seeing ultraviolet light. Humans need water and are drawn to it for survival and so pervasive is our love for it. According to Wallace Nichols in his book Blue Minds, being near water “improves performance, increases calm, diminishes anxiety, and increases professional success”. To the contrary, deep ocean also brings me apprehension and fear. Perhaps it is the contrast that deepens my admiration. Respecting this great unknown is always a priority when I look out onto that horizon. Unplugging and reconnecting with myself and nature is truly what leads me. It is spiritual for me.

That leads me to try to inspire more people to go to and to preserve our environment. Our world and our weather is changing rapidly with global warming. Each year the visible differences cause anxiety and panic in me. Urgently, conservation and preservation need to be at the forefront of our minds. In just a few years coral reefs we have visited are dying at extreme rates and it feels like the powers of the world are not acting in haste. 

It is my intention that viewers are prompted to remember valuable time at the coast and act in some way to help preserve these places. 

Please contact Michelle with any questions 774-641-8551

Exhibition of COAST | Preservation of Our Blue Spaces took place at JMAC Worcester, 20 Franklin Street, Worcester, MA

March 6-24, 2024