Submerged: Pushing Beyond The Canvas
If you’ve been following along, I recently shared that I’ve been working on a series of paintings about water. Water has always been a constant theme in my artwork, intentional or not. For this series, I deliberately decided to explore what water means to me.
A few weeks ago, I attended the opening reception of Un-Augural: Protest Art in the Second Trump Era, where 18 talented artists showcased their thought-provoking works, sparking meaningful conversations and deep reflection on the themes of empathy, humanity, and determination in today’s political and cultural landscape. The gallery aims to “cultivate an inclusive, creative environment that supports avant-garde art and connects artists with the local community. Anno Artem aims to be a resource for artists and a welcoming space for patrons to experience contemporary, socially conscious art.”
Un-Augural: Protest Art in the Second Trump Era (Photo Credit: by Anthony Nowack, Anno Artem)
I applied to have a solo show at this gallery later this year because I love their mission. However, in talking with the owner, Anthony, they want to offer an experience that engages the senses and pushes boundaries, not simply “art hanging on the walls.” I’m a traditional painter in the sense that I paint on canvases or wood panels using mixed media such as acrylic paint, charcoal, oil-based crayons, graphite, neocolor crayons, collage, India ink, and more. While my painting style and abstract themes are more contemporary, I’m a “hang my art on the wall in a gallery” kind of person. This means I have to think more outside the box (and I’ve got some ideas….).
The next day, I gathered all the paintings I’ve done so far in this series and stood them up in a circle with my chair in the middle of them. I grew quiet, meditated, and absorbed their stories. The thought of “submerged” came to me. I began to write without thinking, letting their words pour forth to speak their truth. Below is the art journal entry.
Where The Ocean Swallows Time, 36×48, mixed media on canvas
What is the feeling of being submerged in water?
Immersed in water.
The only way through is in.
Blue Mind Theory - the idea that being in proximity to water can ease your mind into a meditative state.
Bodies of water exist in a simultaneous state of consistency and change.
Submerged. Let yourself feel deeply.
Open your mind to everything around you, not thinking about it but fully in tune with your surroundings, with everything in this moment. Open awareness.
There is no separation between you and the water. You feel at one with everything.
Water, rocks, sand, vast sky, every creature, seaweed.
You aren’t separate.
You are home.
Water energy.
Our unconscious minds are like the infinite deep waters. Like water, the unconscious mind will always seek the deepest path no longer to be seen.
Oceans, lakes, ponds, rivers, streams, creeks - all the water compels me, soothes me, terrifies me, makes me feel alive.
Energetic movement, full body movement.
Small moments in little tidepools, crevices in rocks. The gentle waving of seaweed floating along the shore. The booming crash of boats colliding, trees cracking and falling, wooden docks splintering. The choking, disorienting sensation of drowning. Not taking in air.
My gills are forming as I submerge. Deeply. Tenderly. Violently. Letting go. It’s the push and pull - resistance and release of being born anew beneath the surface. Scratched marks are twigs, spindly reeds, marshes. Loons calling their haunting cry.
Circles are stones, pebbles, shells, sun, moon. The circle of life as we come from water. Water sustains us. Fulfills us. Drives us mad in our search to quench our thirst. A human right to have pureness flow to redeem us.
Green golden lushness. Sandy shore. Red is lifeblood given and taken at the water’s mercy. Coral pinks, the feminine energy, binds us to itself. Lavenders of lights move among the shadows. The rain pours forth, water into water.
We are nothing, insignificant. But alive. Submerging myself, I feel it all.
Black lines of structure, hints of landforms. History that has come before and follows after. We must be in the present moment, open, fully aware to truly feel and be.
Mountains, ranges, cliffs, rocks, and boulders ground us among the watery earth. The feel of solidity, carved by water over eons of millennia. Holding on for support as the water pulls the sand from beneath my feet.
It’s all a process. Trust the process. Building of layers, carving crevices, hidden sights. Something playing peekaboo, playfulness, joy. Abundance. A gift.
Politics are apolitical. Water IS and MUST. And we need it to live. Without it, we die. Perish. Return to dust. Dust is without water, a draining of life. It is where we all return when the water is done. It’s completed its purpose in that moment. It feels like infinity but is finite.
We are not gods. We don’t get to choose. Water chooses for us. It is the feminine energy of the complete life cycle, birth to death. The dream is to return to the womb, cradled warm and safe. Floating. Existing. No end and no beginning. The heavens split, the lightning chaos. The thunder shakes the foundations. Water pours forth and mingles with the dust. Life is breathed, reincarnated, something new.
And so it is as it should be.
