Two Rivers, Two Ways: New York & Texas

By J. Taylor Basker

Rivers have profound importance in human history. Sources for agriculture and trade, they were important for religion and spirituality. The Egyptians turned their river into a god. Greek mythology divinized their energy into naiads, female spiritual creatures, that inhabited flowing waters.

The curators of the Westbeth Gallery exhibit Two-Way River, Sabra Booth and Sophie Sanders, conceived this show on the Hudson River and the Guadalupe River of the San Antonio River systems. Both are estuaries; both flow two ways. Both were the source of indigenous and colonial prosperity and cornerstones of social and spiritual lives. Artists in this exhibit inhabit both river areas. Their art connects physically and spiritually with them.

The work of Sabra Booth, a Texas artist, addresses the outside of the river. Her horizontal screen unfolds images of patterns of the river’s surface with reflection of the moon. The rhythms evoke ripples that emanate light with a Zen tranquility. She creates this art with woodcuts, cutouts on kōzo paper and LED lights ─ an intersection between technology, space and perception. She invited people to bring objects found near the water, then mounted them on the walls in engaging organic patterns.

Desirée Alvarez focuses on the inside of the Hudson River, its creatures within. Her large fabric installation Mermaid River depicts Mermaid Weed, the nymph plant unique to the Hudson. A seahorse in colored inks presides over river creatures and spirits, a magical connection between nature and humans. Her installation Oyster Saloon laments the lost tradition of oysters and beer stands, and devastation caused by industrialization. Her apartment is over a stream that ran into the Hudson River. Her poem relives the old oars and canoes of tulip wood, monster 6-foot lobsters and groaning giant oyster shells.

Working from antique maps of the Hudson River that show time in the erosion and different levels, Susan Rostow’s sculptures depict the within and without of the Hudson. Her work addresses movement, whether it is below or above. Using shells, soil, minerals and discarded objects from the river, she creates prints, sculptures and artist books. Recreating the process where the river, humans, creatures and time collaborate to invent new spaces and living eco-structures, her work is a dialogue that emanates a life force both playful and powerful.

Using information from maps about San Antonio waterways, Doerte Weber weaves hangings with natural and unconventional materials to explore the relationship between people and environment. Headwaters to the Gulf traces the network of springs, rivers and creeks that connect Texas Hill Country to the Gulf. She addresses the effects of drought, flood and environmental change. Utilizing unique weaving techniques and subtle colors she evokes the moods of natural processes and river flows. Loose hemp threads (illegal in Texas) protrude. Japanese leaves and Spanish moss join. Open spaces give emphasis, utilizing both craftsmanship and creativity.

These qualities also characterize the work of Margaret Craig, who transforms an enemy of rivers into an ally: plastic. Her installation Wall Colonies incarnates what she calls the Great Trash Reef where nature uses discarded plastics to evolve new life forms. She recycles plastics through a variety of art media. Cellular forms emerge, enlarge, converge or disperse in a variety of textures and colors. This diaspora of alien shapes is mounted on the wall, weaves into patterns that explode with vitality, an evolutionary march both playful and threatening.

Harmony between nature and humans is gently expressed in the paintings of the Hudson River by Patricia Melvin. The beauty of both man-made structures and natural forms coexist in her peaceful compositions that refresh our harsh world. Using a technique that deceptively appears traditional, she presents reality with minimum effort or detail. This brings lightness and freedom in her imagery; the viewer uses individual perception to read the surface. She captures the two directions of the river currents and paints construction equipment with the same sensitivity as skies. Her works are small since she paints spontaneously from life, yet size is irrelevant to quality.

Deborah Jensen explores the Hudson River upstate, where magnificent massive man-made interventions dot the landscape. Obtaining 19th century postcards for inspiration, she painted river scenes on both sides of plexiglass. This adds dimensionality to these works in monochrome blues and greys. This approach creates a sense that these monumental bridges spring naturally from the landscape on either side of the river. Their spans suspend above the water in harmony with the sky and landscape, offering a positive view of human technological intervention.

Yet rivers can be dangerous; the Guadalupe River’s flooding caused death and destruction. Arthur Polendo’s paintings present psychological insights into the shifting boundaries between humans, landscape and the river. His expressive painting Testing the Waters shows a large hand hovering over layered bands of water. This gesture depicts the dual qualities experienced from a river, both awe and fear. The two-way river becomes a metaphor for our memory and our hopes or fears for the future. With powerful slashes of paint, strong textured colors, he provokes the viewer into a deeper understanding of the river.

The color blue has powerful healing properties. It lowers stress, reduces blood pressure, aids sleep and improves focus. Its calming effect can be seen in the indigo cyanotypes on cotton produced by Sophie Sanders depicting mythological river creatures, the naiads. Spending her childhood walking along the Hudson River, she imagined goddesses within it, wielding magical powers. One image represents a captive phosphorescent naiad surrounded by stagnation during winter ice flows, evoking environmental uncertainty and dangers to humans. Unraveling Chains depicts a naiad liberated, freed to restore energy and harmony between humans and nature.

This historic exhibit is of two rivers in our country that flow two ways, one from a blue state and another from a red state. This is a parable that our deeply divided nation can go two ways and remain united, despite talk about a “national divorce.” Artists are often prophets; this exhibit brought us both beauty and good news.