Making Waves II: Resa Blatman, Joan Hall, & Karen Lee Sobol

In the spring of 2020, Childs Gallery announced the opening of Making Waves, an exhibition featuring the work of Resa Blatman, Joan Hall, and Karen Lee Sobol, three artists using their work to create art that addresses humankind's relationship to the ocean. Just as the exhibition was set to debut, the world was shut down due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and subsequently, Making Waves was only ever glimpsed on the Childs Gallery website, YouTube videos, or through select appointments. 

Now, nearly five years later, Making Waves II reimagines the original exhibition with new artwork from Blatman, Hall, and Sobol, alongside select pieces from the 2020 show. A dynamic staging of multimedia work with powerful messaging, Making Waves II advocates for greater awareness of our climate crisis in the hopes of engendering ideas for change. 

As the largest habitat on our planet, the Earth's oceans are vast ecosystems of which only a small fraction has been explored. Today, our oceans are greatly endangered by human activity, and recent studies have found that approximately 8 million metric tons of plastic enter the ocean on an annual basis. As this crisis escalates, climate change art bridges the scientific and visual, making hard data more accessible through an emotional response to art. By helping us process this information, climate change art seeks to affect meaningful changes between humans and their environment. 

Resa Blatman's paintings consider humankind's place within a vast universe and our ultimate insignificance, versus the quiet strength and influence of tiny things. For several years her work has centered around the shifting climate and catastrophes caused by an overheating planet, juxtaposing the image of a wounded Earth with the resilience of seemingly insignificant plants and animals. These flora and fauna, small birds and marsh grass, are the heroes of Blatman's works, surviving within a tumultuous present or an uncertain future. Though portending of an ominous fate, Blatman's paintings are strikingly beautiful, using nuanced, obsessive mark-making to compose scenes that are contrary and compelling – expressing reverence for the natural world through invoking humanity's conflict with it. Blatman explores themes of death, rebirth, unknowing, and mournfulness relating to our rapidly changing environment, but also ever present is joy, gratitude, compassion, and love for the Earth and each other. 

An avid sailor, Joan Hall works tirelessly to promote marine advocacy through her art. From her home and studio in Jamestown, Rhode Island, Hall sees the effects of climate change firsthand. Non-native, invasive algae species and plastic pollution found in the waters of Narragansett Bay feature prominently in her large-scale mixed media installations. Hall focuses on the use of handmade paper to shape the undulating wave-like forms of her sculptural pieces, while also incorporating various printmaking techniques, using plastics and detritus found on local beaches to create collagraph plates. The resulting works are a beautiful but brutal reminder of humankind's role in widespread oceanic pollution.  Ever experimenting with new and unusual materials, Hall's recent work, such as Washed Up, has seen the more prevalent use of glass as the primary medium. Replicating the delicate ethereality of aqueous jellyfish, the piece also incorporates Hall's trademark handmade paper, alongside metal, and ashes from the artist's late husband – signifying both personal and environmental loss. Ultimately, Hall's goal is to initiate a conversation about the deterioration of our greatest resource – water. The intensive process and scale of Hall's work commands attention, confronting the audience with beauty that conceals ecological trouble. 

Karen Lee Sobol is determined to remain an optimist in the face of the devastating effects of climate change. A global health advocate since the 1960s, Sobol intuits her belief in humanity's role as both benefactors and stewards of the environment into her paintings. Sobol claims to paint like she swims, with a physicality that imbues expressively gestural energies in her work, mimicking the ripples and swells of oceanic waters, the flickers and movement of aquatic creatures. Focusing on nature's inherent beauty, Sobol's work is resplendent with vibrant colors and bold strokes, hiding human and animal figures within her playful lines and splatters. Sobol's latest series, Nobody's Nomads, emerged during the Covid-19 pandemic. Working at home in a makeshift studio, the artist painted large scale canvases that speak to the increasing cascade of environmental refugees and impending challenges to our biosphere. Though the presence of escalating environmental degradation pervades Sobol's works, there is always light and hope. The juxtaposition is meant to invoke a protective instinct and call to action - a plea for help from Mother Nature herself.               

Please join us for an opening reception with the artists, Friday, January 17, 6-8pm. Making Waves II will be on view in our main gallery space January 17 through March 9, 2025.