“Water and Sky” pulls viewers into a shimmering and captivating world of light and water. Blue sky, blue sea, waves dotted with foam and sky speckled with cloud, these are the subjects of a group show that features works by over 40 artists. Covering a wide range of styles and mediums, the varied works add up to an immersive and absorbing installation. Standouts include the lush, dark, visually swimmable midnight blue of Maria Bouquet’s “The Blue Moonlight,” and Bianca Dudeck-Mandity’s delicate, microcosmic dance, “Under Digital,” evoking sea life and water drops. Look at the textured curves of Linda Jackson’s “Castle and Bridge” for a glimpse of a fecund blue fairy-tale land, or at the fierce brightness of Jessica Manelis’ puzzle-piece patterns of water and light. Campbell Laird goes thick and dark with layers of darker-than-navy rich impasto that is textured enough to slice. Olga Skorokhod’s “Hawaii” is a glowing and jewel-like multi-dimensional map of the islands made from handcut paper, colored film and foam board that makes us want to look beneath its surface. Patty Neal’s “Three Graces” are oil on wood paintings of sea and sky so tactile you feel that you could wade in. The always graceful and subtle Gay Summer Rick creates a shimmering sky with a pearl of a moon rising over traces of a hazy sunset orange beach. This is an exhibition well worth “diving” into.
