Elizabeth Awalt: Coming Up for Air
Divers Bouquet (2017), oil on canvas, 72” x 72”
August 11 - October 1, 2022
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BREATHE…. Whether 80 feet below the surface of the ocean or in my studio, I’m reminded that a simple inhale and exhale keeps us alive — and focused. When scuba diving, a deep inhale causes the body to rise, and a deep exhale allows the body to descend. Controlling the breath keeps the body buoyant; inhaling and exhaling through the regulator creates sound and bubbles, and the rhythm of the breath is meditative and soothing.
Two bodies of work are included in this exhibition, the Coral Reef series and the Island Kelp series. Each series finds its immediacy in my direct experience in the environment: scuba diving in turquoise Caribbean waters; and collaborating with the sea and kelp on a Maine island. Water… its movement, transparency, light, and the life within it… bind these two series together.
I began scuba diving late in my life so I could witness the magical underwater landscape that has been ravaged by climate change in recent years. The experience of diving is akin to Alice’s fall down the rabbit hole in Wonderland: an immersion in an alternate universe of infinite blue space, anthropomorphic forms and psychedelic colors teeming with life. I have only begun to investigate its overwhelming beauty. While diving, I draw in a small waterproof sketchbook – taking in the visual stimulation all around me. Drawing from life cements what I am observing into my memory and captures the moment I am in. I also photograph underwater for later reference in the studio, particularly the color and light my drawings can’t capture.
I’ve spent half my life during the summer months on an island in Maine. The woods and sea have provided me with unlimited subject matter. On the island I work plein air, and the paintings in the Island Kelp Series are made in collaboration with nature. I soak the paper in seawater, lay kelp onto the paper to create a form, and paint to allow the liquids to pool and bleed where they desire. The transparency and movement of the water and the atmosphere, light and weather are the elements I’m after. I embrace not knowing what the final paintings will look like.
— Elizabeth Awalt
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