Edge of A Meadow

Date

Opening Reception and speaking engagement 

Wednesday, July 15, 2020 4:00- 8:00 PM, 2020

FP3 Gallery is pleased to present Nedret Andre’s new abstract paintings in her solo exhibition, Edge of a Meadow, June 16 to September 4, 2020. In her series of gestural paintings inspired by seagrass habitats, Andre explores the elusive concept of the ever-shifting boundary at the ocean’s edge. 

Andre explores how patterns found in eelgrass meadows can be interpreted into abstract motifs as she captures the poetry present in our ocean habitats. 

The edge of an eelgrass meadow is a magical place for me, it’s a place of contemplation and beauty. It is also a wondrous place to learn about the abundant ecological services these meadows provide us, from storm protection, to feeding thousands of animals to helping minimize shore erosion. Seagrass most of all gives us clean air to breath.

Andre volunteers with several eelgrass conservation groups in Massachusetts, where she met scientist, Dr. Philip Colarusso. During the opening reception, EPA’s marine scientist, Colarusso will talk about the eelgrass restoration efforts in Boston. 

In December 2019 at an Eelgrass meeting, Phil asked everyone to create a 

Haiku to represent about what “the edge of a meadow” means to them. This is his interpretation:

Blue Carbon 

By Phil Colarusso

Climate change buffer
Particles settle in grass
Seagrass meadows rule

(The Sciku Project  https://thescikuproject.com/tag/elements/)

Instead of writing a Haiku, Andre decided to paint a series of paintings that represent the edge of a meadow for her.  Andre began this painting project, bringing lines and shapes which repeat throughout her compositions to represent what she encountered at the place where the eelgrass and the land meet at the ocean’s edge. She explored patterns and rhythms created in eelgrass habitats.

In “Mapping Seagrass” Andre depicts a large-scale map and adds linear swooping elements that represents her observations on a citizen scientist volunteering project in August 2019 in Duxbury Bay. The boat she was on had been to 18 different sites that documented eelgrass in the bay area. On the two days they were out, they only documented one site, as eelgrass sites are disappearing rapidly. 

In her painting she depicts her memory of “searching” for seagrass on a beautiful day with land masses surrounded by water.

“Underwater Terrain” traces of the contours of shifting land underwater. Lines weave through interlocking rock formations, while greens and yellows lay below the creamy surface of white oil paint. Texture and pattern repeat in different places almost becoming geometric and then dissolving into another organic iteration.  Sand covers rock, an orange mollusk shell reveals itself, partially hidden. Andre is interested in capturing these moments of structure and loss as a metaphor for what is happening in eelgrass habitats. 

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