The Essence of Water
ANNUAL ART CONTEST
Leonardo da Vinci believed water was the driving force of all nature. For centuries, water has captivated the imagination of artists as a fascinating and dynamic element, be it in its solid, liquid, or vaporous form. We have invited artists who are registered for the 2024 Open Studio Tour to submit their best work that captures the essence of water. Maybe they are drawn to its serenity, its mesmerizing movements, its destructive power, its different forms - ice, rain, snow, fog, steam, etc., or its symbolic meanings, we encourage you to create artwork that flows with imagination.
We look forward to sharing the entries and winners of the contest after they are announced in May, 2024.
Mary Dondero, 2024 Annual Contest Juror
ABOUT THE JUROR: This year’s juror is Mary Dondero, an artist and educator living in Massachusetts. Her artwork has been exhibited nationally and internationally. She was a 2011 recipient of an artist residency at Zion National Park, Utah. Dondero has served on the panel of jurors for the Rhode Island State Council of the Arts and is currently serving as Exhibition Curator at Bristol Art Museum, Bristol, RI and a Board member for Imago Foundation for the Arts in Warren, RI. Dondero is a full timefull-time tenured faculty member in the Department Art and Art History at Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, MA. Her studio is in Warren, RI and she lives in Rehoboth, MA.
First Prize
Michael Walden
Swimmers
Oil on linen
36” x 60”
Juror Comments:
“The painting mesmerized me on multiple levels. Looking at it made me feel as though I was granted a privileged to view into a secret world. The mystery embedded within the image beckons my imagination into unexplored realms, evoking a sense of wonder and curiosity. The interplay of subtle light and intriguing shadows invites me to envision different narratives and possibilities—it's like a portal to a realm of endless imagination.
The concept of looking up from underwater at swimmers passing by is poetic and intriguing, especially knowing that the artist draws inspiration from Phyllis Haring's poetry. It feels like a metaphor for glimpsing fleeting moments of life or human interaction from a submerged perspective. The underwater viewpoint adds depth and mystery to the image, enhancing its enigmatic atmosphere.
The painting invites contemplation and tempts the viewer to delve deeper into its poetic interpretation of human existence and the transient nature of moments captured in time.”
Second Prize
William Kendall
Blue Breakers
Acrylic
36" x 36"
Juror Comments:
“This paintings dynamic composition immediately grabs my attention and holds it with its vibrant interplay of shapes and colors, creating a sense of action and energy.
The use of 'surprise colors' is striking as they excite the eye while the artists maintained a sense of balance. The daring color choices not only enliven the artwork but also create a compelling visual dialogue that keeps the eye engaged and moving.
It seems that this is achieved through an innovative process of many processes combined challenging conventional boundaries of abstraction, blending traditional formal elements with a contemporary twist. This approach gives makes the painting fresh and purposeful.
Additionally, the sense of depth achieved is striking. The layered arrangement of shapes and colors invites exploration, almost like peering into a three-dimensional space where every viewing angle reveals new dimensions and tumbling perspectives. The painting exudes rhythm and a vibrant sense of life.”
Honorable Mention
Kim Barry
Transpiration
Oil on board
31" x 36"
Juror Comments:
“I find myself truly captivated by the lush use of paint and the captivating beauty in 'Transpiration'. The artist's imaginative interpretation of the theme 'Essence of Water' through the lens of sprouting garlic is both inspiring and thought-provoking.
The vibrant, lush colors and skillful brushwork vividly bring to life the vitality and resilience inherent in nature, which aligns perfectly with the artist's stated goal. The choice of subject matter—garlic sprouting vigorously—symbolizes the essence of life itself, fueled by the omnipresent force of water. Although the composition or viewpoint is tightly cropped, the garlic takes on the quality of being a vast landscape. It's fascinating how something as humble as a cooking ingredient can transform into a profound symbol of regeneration and growth.
The exploration of transpiration and the interconnectedness of water within plant life adds a deeper layer of meaning to the artwork. The intermingling garlic bulbs depicted in the painting speak to the unity and continuity of life processes, where water serves as the vital conduit for nourishment and sustenance.
The artist beautifully translates the theme into a captivating visual narrative that celebrates the resilience and intrinsic beauty of the natural world.”
View all of the entries from our artists below:
Robert Abele Journey to Round Hill 12" x 12" Oil The painting captures a serene moment at Round Hill Beach in Dartmouth, as a young boy strolls down a sandy path towards the shoreline. A bucket in one hand and a lacrosse stick in the other, he exudes a sense of innocence and adventure. Tall beach grasses sway gently on either side of the path creating a natural frame for the scene. The atmosphere radiates the carefree spirit of childhood evoking memories of youthful exuberance and freedom. Perhaps the boy is on his way to crabbing or meeting friends adding a touch of anticipation to the setting. His presence serves as a nostalgic reminder for viewers to embrace and cherish the simplicity and joy of being young.
Cali Almy Ocean Platter 14" x 14" x 2" Ceramics This platter is wheel thrown and altered by hand giving the rim a fluid edge. Color is applied to the surface by pouring, dipping and finger painting with glaze. The movement of color and form reflect currents and tidal shifts of the ocean. The natural landscapes of the New England south coast are significant inspiration for my work, especially time walking in the woods, through the marsh, and along the shore. I am drawn to the patterns, colors, forms and contrasts I find. I embrace the challenge of creating simple forms in clay, particularly vessels, platters, and tiles and then exploring more expressive surfaces. Some of my pieces reveal recognizable images and patterns from the landscape while others are more abstracted. I hope to bring a sense of love and respect for place through my work.
Michele Bailey Shimmering Wave 12" x 16" Oil & cold wax The power of the ocean is immense and has enthralled me for decades. Rolling waves mesmerize with their rhythm and beauty. I have tried to capture a glimpse of that here.
Kim Barry Transpiration 31" x 36" Oil on board "Transpiration" I am a painter who is passionate about painting nature and in particular, clouds and the ocean. However, my response to this call, Essence of Water” took an unexpected turn when I read the quote from Di Vinci, “Water is the driving force of all nature”, all nature. My thoughts wandered to how can a cooking ingredient in my kitchen transform into a living, regenerating plant? The garlic on my counter recently, vigorously, started to sprout. Fascinated with these indominable garlic I did a bit of research. Water flows from the roots to the shoot of a plant through the xylem (vascular system) and travels to the underside of leaves where the stomata exhales water into vapor. Water is moved by the negative pressure generated by the evaporation of water. This process is called transpiration. If there is no water source from soil or bulb, there is no transpiration, and the plant will not flourish and will eventually die. Garlic are beautiful sensual objects to paint and freshly inspired, I painted a pile of intermingling, indominable, sprouting garlic titled, “Transpiration”.
Dot Bergen Division 11" x 14" Encaustic Water can move mountains, reshape a coastline, yet house thousands of organisms in a single drop. "Division" explores segregation and aggregation, be it cell division, a colony of oysters or coastal sediment redistribution.
Don Cadoret Whale Songs 12" x 12" Acrylic on Board
Robert Dec Water Life 33" x 32" Acrylic and Photo Transfer on Board Artist's original photograph tiled and transferred to surface with numerous acrylic layers and glazes applied. Artist attempted to capture the essence of Sawdy Pond in Westport and its natural features.
Iria DeValles-Vieira Beat of the Music 16" x 20" Acrylic The Beat of the Music is an abstract done in acrylic. It is cool spring water with reflections of the warm sun and clouds. The water and its surroundings has a rhythm to it that is calming but also a little rough in certain areas . This makes one stop to think but the calmness carries you over.
Peter Dickison Pond Song 16" x 16" Oil on linen A pond in summer, still water attracting life. Avian, amphibian and insect life, and mine, all singing in their native tongues.
Kris Donovan Summer Surf 4" x 6" Watercolor I love to travel with my little watercolor box, sit on the beach, and do these little watercolor studies..... the waves are so peaceful.... no pressure, enjoying the patterns, colors, and sounds of them as I get into the zone. I use them to create larger studio paintings in oil and pastel but love the spontaneity and magic of watercolor, even on a gray day as this was.
Lindsey Epstein Atlantic Storm Blue Amphora 11.5" x 7.5" Porcelain The use of water in creating ceramics is an interesting parallel. Water is added to dry materials creating the clay and glaze. Using water is vital to allow the clay to move through my hands while forming the shape on the wheel. However, all the water must be removed during the firing to create an object that can function to hold water and liquid. Water is essential to every part of my making process. Too much and the clay can’t support itself. Too little and the clay cracks. If too much water is in the clay before firing, the piece will explode. Managing how quicky (or slowly) a piece will dry can prevent attachments from breaking off. The specific gravity of suspended particles in the glaze effects the outcome of the surface. Water is just as much of a material in my practice as the clay itself. The amphora form on my entry is inspired by an Ancient Greek form, traditionally used to transport liquids. The full belly swells with its inner contents. The crystalline glaze resembles a stormy Atlantic Ocean with crystals of sea life floating under the water. Water is considered in all aspects of this vessel.
Stan Frankenthaler Sunrise on the Islands 8" x 11.5" Encaustic This is an encaustic mono print on mulberry paper. Painted in gray tones (that I mixed) directly on my griddle and lifted from there.
Joanne Gregory Winter Seascape 8" x 10" Sea Shell and Glass Beads Winter Seascape is a bead embroidered representation of the ocean floor in winter. Seashells include various forms of the Nautilus and Shiva They are attached to the canvas by sewing glass beads around and over shells using various bead embroidery techniques including peyote bezel, couching, stacking and loops.
Vidar Haaland Storm 22" x 30" Watercolor Watercolor on Saunders Waterford 300 lb. CP paper. This watercolor emphasizes the wash and flow of watercolor paint on paper. I love the organic feel of pigment falling and settling into paper.
Barbara Edlund Healy On My Wavelength 30" x 40" Oil On My Wavelength was inspired by the ocean's ever-changing beauty. The colors of the water reflect from the sky and then are transparent where light shines through the wave. It's like a constant reminder that change is beautiful, inevitable, and to be embraced. This deep connection to nature's ebb and flow fuels my creativity, calming my mind and making me feel part of something much larger than myself. I choose oil paint as my medium because it allows me to build layers upon layers, each one adding depth, texture, and emotion, much like the layers of life. My paintbrush dances between a vision of reality and brushstrokes of color that don’t disguise that they are paint.
Genevieve Hunt Racing Home 16" x 20" Watercolor on paper This is a painting that began as a plein aire sketch last August of our local Wednesday Night Races before a fast moving storm chased the boats into Padanaram Harbor and cut my session short. I finished it in the studio later in the fall of 2023. It expresses the precarious nature of ocean storms and how living here requires a constant eye on the sky and the water.
William Kendall Blue Breakers 36" x 36" Acrylic
Jill Law Littoral Drift 18" x 12" Pastel Littoral Drift is an abstract expression inspired by the movement of water as it negotiates the shore. The endless deposit, rearrangement, and distribution of nutrient rich organic material feeds all that thrive in the earth's life-giving water. Much like one's life existence, we gather knowledge whether willingly or not and rearrange it as memories. Some are joyful and cherished. Others are emotional and unwanted, but all change us. Much like the shoreline's littoral zone, our soul evolves in response.
Thomas Leverett Hixbridge 12” x 24” Acrylic This is a plein air painting of hixbridge in Westport, MA. It is a busy place in the summertime. People fishing off the bridge or boats being launched at the boat ramp to the left. Love painting water scenes
Eric Lintala Erin's Dream Pool 12" x 14" x 6" Cast Bronze, Stone Where do our dreams come from ? That state of mind, that place that exists where everything is and everything isn't ? Dreams seem to exist in some elemental state much like water, be it solid, liquid, vaporous, somewhere in between or all of the above, but always fluid. as artists we create over time, a state of experiences that all pool together. From that pool, from that liquid dream state, rises a multitude of creative thoughts, exciting ideas, and ambitious energies resulting in a profound sense of accomplishment.
Carolyn Lock Rocky Shore 12" x 24" Oil Nothing speaks more vividly of the power of water than the dramatic erosion of our coastline, creating beauty and loss at the same time.
Karen Melanson New Wave 12" x 32" Pastel Water, the essence of life is expressed in a wave. Its energy and movement, translucency and color is mesmerizing. Endlessly flowing, it can be rough, and turbulent or serene and calm...mimicking life.
Monica Pereira Sakonet Light 11" x 16" Acrylic My favorite place to visit in Little Compton.
JP Powel Essence of Water 5" x 8" Pen & Ink on Watercolor Paper
Lauren Quinn Pas de deux dans la mer 11.5" framed, glass is approx. 8 inches Fused glass in brass frame Imagine the mother humpback teaching the her baby how to swim resembling a water ballet with the sun shining light like a spotlight through the water on the duo.
Cindy Sachs Swimming at East Beach 16" x 20" Acrylic As a practicing architect, my paintings are a juxtaposition between figures and the spaces created between them. Paintings are of live models; still and moving, and at times intertwined. Swimming is of my french cousin enjoying East Beach in Westport.
Taylor Smith Mt. Hope Bay 12" x 16" Oil Painted in 2022, highlights the backlite clouds and the highly textured breaking waves. Looking South towards Mt. Hope.
Michelle Smith Push and Pull 12" x 16" Oil Painting The peace within the strength of a wave breaking is a moment in time which can never be repeated. Like a snowflake, no wave is the same. Using oil paints, I strive to create this moment in time with the goal of allowing the viewer to perhaps take a deep breath. For a while they might forget their worries and take a walk on the beach.
Galen V Snow Surfers Beach 12" x 24" Paper Montage I was at a wedding on this beach once and then later on, a mid-summers walk back to the beach sent me home with the soft, cool colors of the day in my heart and a peaceful lapping of the waves in my ears. I sat at my drafting table as I closed my eyes and relived the special moment in nature and the textures of the ocean at my feet. Thus inspired, I immediately began tearing transparent papers for the sky's depth and layering on the opaque papers to create the body of water, building the calm while feeling the rhythmic motion. The water became one with me as I stood within its surrounds then gave me the impetus to go home and recreate the calm, peaceful memory with paper and glue. Painting with Paper. A gift of love for the wedding day.
Donna St Amant Peony with Morning Dew 8" x 8" Photography The morning dew lands gently on the pedals of a Peony, which is soon to fully bloom. Each droplet creates a little magnifying glass, which highlights the textural details in this soft delicate closeup.
Susan Strauss Dreaming Water 8"x 10" Oil on panel The world offers itself to your imagination.
Stephanie Stroud Cadence 14" x 18" Decorative Fiber
Katherine Thompson Song of Silke 6.75" x 6" x 4" Clay Thompson’s “Haiku Moon Jars”, inspired by the Korean moon jar tradition, are hand built and so are somewhat irregular, cratered, and are embossed with original haiku poems reflecting on the power of the moon over the ocean’s tidal cycles and humanity’s shy devotion to our silent orb. “Song of Silke” is an ode to the traditional myth about the magical seals that can shed their skins to live among humans. The tale turns dark when her human lover steals her skins, entrapping her on dry land. From the shore, she gazes longingly at the sea. The moon illuminates the rising tides and cresting surf. Into the depths we land bound mortals longingly gaze where sometimes we catch a glimpse of a silke looking back at us. Because she can only upload one picture, she is only able to show one side, one haiku. Moon rising tide full/Silke watches from her wave/Liminal shoreline Tempted by firm ground/ Years ago I lost my fur/ Curiosity Tide pulls in perpetuity
Raquel Valcourt-deCosta Reflections 11" x 11" Mixed/Contemporary Fresco Layers of metallic plasters, acrylics and acrylic metallics.
Michael Walden Swimmers 36" x 60" Oil on linen Clean fall…. So deep he dives, and swiftly swimming down past long-drowned men. Inspired by the poetry of Phyllis Haring.
Pat Warwick Lingering Tide 30" x 40" Oil on panel