Fredericka Foster’s mid-sized paintings of water have a mesmerizing quality to them, just as staring into a river or lake or the ocean does. Some of her pieces are in extreme close-up, catching a sense of ebb and flow, of waves. Having painted H2O in the fjords of Norway and more urban and industrialized stretches of our own Hudson River, Foster will open her latest show of aquatic works at the Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries this Saturday, March 8 in the Institute’s gallery space on Main Street in Beacon.
“Water is our most intimate medium, which allows for a universal connection,” says the artist, who curated and participated in the major 2011 “Value of Water” art exhibition at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. “While it can evoke stillness, power or turbulence, it is vulnerable to human nature.”
“I spent my early life in the watery Pacific Northwest, and when I began to use oil paint to describe a vision of water as meditative, rhythmic, intimate yet grand, I came home to my subject matter,” adds the artist. “Beacon Institute’s purpose to expand the understanding of water into vital areas for the benefit of us all fits perfectly with my desire to use art as a mechanism to connect with water both emotionally and intellectually, and to address issues affecting water and therefore all of us.”
Fredericka Foster’s “Water Way” opening March 8, 5-7 p.m., through October 5, Beacon Institute for Rivers & Estuaries, 199 Main Street, Beacon; (845) 838-1600, extension 10, www.bire.org.
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