Triptych in Progress by Casey Chalem Anderson oil on panels 24″ x 72″
I’m almost finished with this triptych (three separate panels) of a salt marsh in Southampton. The wide view is glorious, and delicate, so alive and vibrant. Notice how my abstracted piece “Floating World” relates to the landscape in color and the use of rounded organic shapes.
Just recently I visited Miami Beach. I walked past three luxurious swimming pools, surrounded by strategically placed palm trees to step out on the sand and dip into the Ocean. The sand was so firm, so comfortable to walk on, not like the Hamptons beaches where you sink a bit with every step. When I inquired, the hotel guy kicked some sand away with his shoe. Under just 2 inches of sand, the entire beach had been spread with asphalt. I was genuinely shocked. What nerve does it take to impose so heavily on Nature….we wouldn’t do that up here, would we?
I remembered my Mom telling me that when she was a kid, the biologically essential salt marshes were paved over to make LaGuardia Airport (then called Idlewood). She called it a “swamp”. People thought of unbuildable land as useless. We know better now, don’t we?
The beauty here on the East End is abundant. You see it everywhere and it is raw and uncontainable. The tides shift, the wind whips, the sun shines and the fog settles in and out. Those striking changes in Nature remind me that we are always living on the edge. It is why I love the land and the sea here so deeply.
There is no doubt, we are going to have to protect what we have.
A few of my favorite environmental groups doing important work out here are- https://peconiclandtrust.org/
https://www.groupfortheeastend.org/
https://easternli.surfrider.org/
Until next time, Casey
Upcoming Shows: Currently Seagreen Designs, Southampton,/ Romany Kramoris Gallery, Sag Harbor,/Springs Invitational, /Springs East Hampton, /Reboli Art Center, Stonybrook and open times to visit in my studio.
