Swamped!
Paintings of the Haw River Wetlands & Selected Works from 2016 - 2024
Solo Exhibition by Adele Wayman
Exhibition: May 21 - June 1, 2024
Reception: Friday, May 24th, 5-7p
See the Exhibit with the Artist: Thursday, May 30th | 1-4p
More About Swamped!
I began these paintings caught by the beauty of the wetlands of the Haw River State Park, an easy walk from our home and studio. After heavy rains, my eye is drawn to the bright glimpses of blue reflected in the waters through giant beech trees whose branches – so like our own gestures – reach down through twisted growth to the swamp.
Should I paint just the blue glow of the water punctuated by sun and shade on tree trunks? Or move in closer with a tiny brush to paint the twisting vines? Or try to capture subtle shifts in the current or reflections? Maybe I’ll leave unpainted areas of the open canvas and let my illusion of the swamp gradually emerge.
As I paint, the metaphor of the swamp becomes deeper and more meaningful. I imagine not draining the swamp, but preserving it and our earth and its creatures for generations of our children. Can we leave our personal swamps and reconnect with each other? We forget that we are nature too, all part of one incredible and interdependent world.
Adele grew up in Greensboro, NC and attended Vassar College where she earned her BA, cum laude in European History in 1965. Her art studies continued at the Art Students League in New York, the Corcoran School of Art, in Washington, DC. and the Tyler School of Art in Rome, Italy. She received her Master of Fine Arts in Painting from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Adele lives surrounded by woods outside Greensboro, NC where she and her furniture-making husband work in their studio, Forest Light, next door to the Haw River State Park. Adele and Jeff fly fish and grow vegetables. She grows the flowers and sometimes paints them, has a daily Zen meditation practice and is continually expanding her vision and approach to art-making.
Adele Wayman is a painter and occasional creator of installations and altars. She has received artist’s residency grants to Yaddo and Millay Colony for the Arts. There have been exhibitions of her work in NYC and Boca Raton, Florida, with Bernice Steinbaum’s gallery; in DC at Gallery K and Gallery 10 and also in 2002 in a solo exhibit at Sidwell Friends School. She was invited to show her work in Beijing, China. Her art has been widely exhibited in North Carolina in invitational and juried exhibitions, including a solo exhibition at Appalachian State University.
Adele was a passionate and committed teacher, Hege Professor of Art at Guilford College for 40 years. As a young professor she received the Excellence in Teaching Award in 1989. She retired in Spring 2014 and was awarded the Hendricks Service Award and in September 2015, received an Exemplary Educator Award from the Guilford College Alumni Association.
Learn more about Adele at adelewayman.com
