Fragile Ecologies

Artist Statement

Bridget Eileen Grady is an artist whose painting is poetically influenced by her explorations of the woods and fields of New England, the literature of natural history, and a childhood shaped by life on a neighboring farm. Her primary body of work investigates and depicts sensitive ecological environments both figuratively and abstractly. The paintings presented are a combination of works from two entirely different environments with similar climate change concerns.

The paintings created in the United States are representative selections from a series of vernal pool meditations. The tree paintings are from the “For the Trees” series which were created in Southeast Asia in response to the new environment she encountered there and influenced by the massive burning of the rainforest for agriculture that occurred on her arrival in Singapore.

The work focuses on the connection of the psyche to nature and the translation of that experience through the perceptual process of painting. Ms. Grady believes that it is cultural attitudes that have the greatest impact on the condition of the environment. "Artists perform a social function by producing visual artifacts that can have an effect on the attitudes of a society toward the natural world." This point of view has a long tradition in the history of landscape painting and continues to be relevant considering the current critical state of the environment.