The Green Ladies of False Bay
San Juan Islands Museum of Art’s Artist Registry Show
is a great way to get to know local artists’ work
and get a taste of island life
On San Juan Island where I live, when the tide is out at False Bay, where the water is very shallow, these little green ladies emerge:
(Don’t miss the video below where I talk about my painting, “Gathering,” which imagines my Victorian great-great grandmother gathering seaweed!)
Gathering seaweed was a popular pastime in the Victorian era, where young ladies would gather, preserve and draw these beautiful seaweeds. My great great grandmother lived during this period, near the red sand beaches of Lincolnshire, England before she emigrated to the deserts of Utah in 1852. I feel a deep connection to her, and I saw this painting as a way to connect her to me, here in the San Juan Islands, where I visit the beaches and gather and study seaweed myself for pleasure, and for my art. I love the strange shapes, colors and shadows of it. I love how versatile and beautiful seaweed is.
In my painting that is in the SJIMA show, I imagine my great great grandmother, Maria, on the beaches of Eastern England. It is an imaginative scene of Maria gathering kelp. In the Victorian era, women were not encouraged to be scientists, but one area that was approved and encouraged was seaweed gathering.
This oil painting is a part of a series called 16 Journeys. In this series I am researching the lives of my 16 great great grandparents who traveled from Scotland, Wales, England, Sweden and Denmark to Utah in the 1850s.The museum created short videos for each artist to talk a little about their work.
Here I’m discussing my piece, Gathering. I hope you enjoy it - see the full painting below.
Click on the image to see the short presentation (2 minutes).
Gathering
This painting has helped me to connect with my ancestor and explore figurative painting and abstract landscape at the same time, using broad strokes of color and abstract shapes within the landscape.
I hope you enjoy meeting Maria and step back in time to gather kelp.
Gathering, oil on canvas, 36x48, Shannon Borg
