Jumbo Advancing Wave 48 x 72 oil/canvas by Casey Chalem Anderson
View From The Bridge, Oil on wood, 24in x 24in
When Shannon Wiley of Sea Green Designs phoned and asked, “Would you want to have your paintings in a film?” my first response was, “Well, what kind of film?” My mind raced through the possibilities: student film, porn film. I needed a little more information before picturing my paintings on the big screen.
The connection began with a six-by-four-foot ocean wave. Shannon had chosen it for above the fireplace at the Hamptons Design House, and images of that installation were on her website. That’s where the set designers found it, which is how they found me. I’ve been focusing on larger canvases. At that scale, a painting can shift the atmosphere of a whole room. The project turned out to be “Women Like Us,” the upcoming Netflix film starring Whoopi Goldberg, Vivica A. Fox, Vanessa Williams, and Jennifer Lewis, with Michelle Obama as an executive producer.
When I spoke with the set designer, she asked if I had other paintings. I sent images, and she said, “I think we want to take all of them.” Ultimately, they rented nine of my paintings for the production at the Pridwin Hotel on Shelter Island. Renting work for a film was entirely new to me.
I was invited to come check in on the set. I had to park at the bottom of the hill and walk along the water. The beginning of September’s nor’easter stole my hat before I even reached the hotel. Across from the Pridwin, the water was grey, churned up with whitecaps beating against the little dock.
Inside, there was a hubbub of activity. People were opening boxes, unpacking, taping things. Everyone seemed to know their job, working together in a coordinated, efficient, focused way. I was surprised by how many people it took to bring the set together. None of the stars were there during my visit. I met the set designer and an art director who were welcoming and genuinely enthusiastic about the paintings. Hearing that felt wonderful. My contact told me to wander, so I spent about forty-five minutes soaking it in.
Some of my paintings were already hanging, then at one point I looked up and saw that “View from the Bridge” had gone on to the wall while I was there. That Towd Point view over salt marshes and water catching the sky took its place in a new setting, becoming part of someone else’s story. What struck me was the care. Nothing was casual. Every object within the camera’s potential view might help tell the story.
My paintings helped bring the coastal atmosphere indoors, surrounding these women and their time by the beach. That is central to my work. A painting can hold spaciousness, the quiet of a reflected sky, or the force of a breaking wave, and bring the feeling of being near water into the room. It was a thrill to see my work chosen for that purpose and to glimpse the care that went into placing it. I’m eager to see the finished film and discover how the paintings appear through the camera.
They chose my paintings to help tell a story of life by the sea, and that’s what I hope my work can bring to any room: the feeling of being near the water, for those of us who are always drawn back to it.
Warmly,
Casey
