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What does a flood look like to an artist? The third annual Flood Awareness All Media Show, on view at Art Works in Richmond, Virginia, through March 19, asks — and answers — this question.
Co-sponsored by the Department of Conservation and Recreation, the show coincides with Flood Awareness Week, when Virginians are urged to learn about flood risk and how to protect themselves and their property before spring rains and hurricane season.
“Flooding impacts everyone,” said Angela Davis, DCR’s National Flood Insurance Program state coordinator. “Using art to communicate the impacts of flooding seemed like a good way to reach more people and speak to new audiences about this very real risk.”
Art Works owner Glenda Kotchish said the show is aligned with the gallery’s mission: “We’re all about the people — it’s everybody’s gallery,” she said.
“[The show] has been a good opportunity to help the state build awareness about this issue,” Kotchish added, noting that Art Works’ location is about two blocks from the James River and Richmond’s Manchester Floodwall.
Of the 60 submissions by artists from multiple states, Kotchish and gallery director Jessie Boyland selected 25 pieces for the exhibition based on theme, technique, refinement and mastery of the medium. They also awarded prizes.
“Oceans Rise, Empires Fall” by Nico Cathcart.
First place went to “Oceans Rise, Empires Fall” by Richmond artist Nico Cathcart. The 48” x 48” oil painting shows turquoise waters splashing against a skull. It draws on the centuries-old tradition of skulls in paintings as a memento mori, or “reminder of mortality.”
“I wanted to modernize that concept,” she said. “My hope as an artist is that my work will provoke contemplation about climate change, and how people and communities can make changes to mitigate it,” Cathcart said.
"Waterplay" by Sheila Holland
“Waterplay” by Sheila Holland took second place. The 40” x 30” image of two children at the water’s edge is rendered in acrylic paint, resin — and eggshells. Kotchish said Holland’s unique medium has a shimmering effect reminiscent of water and also gives the painting’s surface a brittle, mottled look that suggests water damage.
"Hey Boomer" by Julie Waltz-Stalker
Standing in shoulder-deep water, a millennial woman in a mask faces an older woman in a blindfold in third-place winner “Hey Boomer” by Julie Waltz-Stalker, a painter based in Corning, New York. The figures in the 16” x 20” oil painting are portraits of the artist and her mother.
Waltz-Stalker wanted to explore intergenerational blind spots that occur when we talk past one another instead of “listening more,” especially about current issues and cultural memory. Corning was destroyed 50 years ago by floods from Hurricane Agnes, and the memory of it “still hangs over the town,” she said.
"End of Days" by Wendy Nelson
“End of Days” by Williamsburg-based photographer Wendy Nelson, won honorable mention. The 20” x 28” black-and-white image shows the artist’s own front door opening onto deep waters at the threshold. It was partly inspired by a “storm of the century” she saw while growing up in Minnesota.
‘You would look outside, and it was like someone had tipped over a bucket. We saw houses crumble,” she said. “I wanted to shine a light on the fact that, in one day, the world can change.”
Learn more about flood preparedness at DCR’s Flood Awareness Week website.
Categories
Dam Safety and Floodplains
Tags
flood control | rivers
