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Created and Sold by Virginia Bradley Art
St. Croix 5 - Beneath - Paintings
Price $3,800
In February of 2020 Virginia Bradley was invited to St. Croix in the US Virgin Islands to be an Artist in Residence at the Caribbean Museum for the Arts in Frederiksted.
Upon arrival in St. Croix, Virginia was immediately inspired by the lush landscape and its interplay with the ever-changing Caribbean Sea. During the residency she was also teaching an Abstract Painting Workshop "Swimming Toward Abstraction” and met many talented “Cruzan” artists, which deepened her understanding and connection to the island even more. Simultaneously Virginia watched huge cruise ships dock in the harbor, as the COVID pandemic emerged. The ships were like a foreboding and unknown entity landing in this idyllic paradise.
The St. Croix series commenced during the residency and consists of 8 paintings inspired by the St. Croix landscape and the emerging pandemic. After completing the six-week residency she traveled with the paintings to Playa Santa, Puerto Rico, where her Winter studio is located. Playa Santa was suffering from severe aftershocks from the 6.4 January 2020 earthquake. The epicenter of the 2020 earthquake was 4 miles from Playa Santa which added yet another layer of complexity to the paintings’ process.
After travel restrictions began, Virginia realized it was time to return to Great Barrington. Once again, the paintings were packed and boarded the plane to the Northeast. She arrived to the snow-covered landscape of the Berkshires, with the Covid-19 pandemic in its’ full, deadly swing and all the strict, isolating safety precautions in effect.
Throughout all this time Virginia continued to work on all eight 20" x 20" paintings as a group, switching in between them. During these last 12 weeks the character of the works continued to change as they developed in social isolation; from spontaneous to brooding, crystal blue seas to dark waters and simple beauty to complex biological viral forms.
With the St. Croix series Virginia is inscribing, like a seismograph/barometer all the physical and emotional happenings of this pertinent period deep into the complex layers of the canvas and thus transforms them into a meditative vision of this century defining time.
Upon arrival in St. Croix, Virginia was immediately inspired by the lush landscape and its interplay with the ever-changing Caribbean Sea. During the residency she was also teaching an Abstract Painting Workshop "Swimming Toward Abstraction” and met many talented “Cruzan” artists, which deepened her understanding and connection to the island even more. Simultaneously Virginia watched huge cruise ships dock in the harbor, as the COVID pandemic emerged. The ships were like a foreboding and unknown entity landing in this idyllic paradise.
The St. Croix series commenced during the residency and consists of 8 paintings inspired by the St. Croix landscape and the emerging pandemic. After completing the six-week residency she traveled with the paintings to Playa Santa, Puerto Rico, where her Winter studio is located. Playa Santa was suffering from severe aftershocks from the 6.4 January 2020 earthquake. The epicenter of the 2020 earthquake was 4 miles from Playa Santa which added yet another layer of complexity to the paintings’ process.
After travel restrictions began, Virginia realized it was time to return to Great Barrington. Once again, the paintings were packed and boarded the plane to the Northeast. She arrived to the snow-covered landscape of the Berkshires, with the Covid-19 pandemic in its’ full, deadly swing and all the strict, isolating safety precautions in effect.
Throughout all this time Virginia continued to work on all eight 20" x 20" paintings as a group, switching in between them. During these last 12 weeks the character of the works continued to change as they developed in social isolation; from spontaneous to brooding, crystal blue seas to dark waters and simple beauty to complex biological viral forms.
With the St. Croix series Virginia is inscribing, like a seismograph/barometer all the physical and emotional happenings of this pertinent period deep into the complex layers of the canvas and thus transforms them into a meditative vision of this century defining time.
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