Beacon Gallery is pleased to announce its upcoming exhibition The Air We Breathe, featuring the work of Nedret Andre. This solo exhibition runs from November 3, 2022 to January 5, 2023 and will focus on the importance of seagrass for our ecosystem and how seagrass (also known as eelgrass) preservation is tied to our everyday decisions, through abstract painting and sculpture.

Whether we recognize it or not, humanity is an active participant in marine life. Our hands hold the weight of decisions that will conserve or decimate the remaining 70% of seagrass. Andre’s visual aesthetic and participatory works draw the viewer’s attention to the crucial nature of our symbiotic relationship with this delicate plant: it oxygenates the ocean, is a carbon sink, and provides vegetation for sea creatures that provide nourishment. Andre’s brush bridges the mathematical and emotional by depicting the beauty of the remaining amount of seagrass in the water.

“From the surface, everything looks serene, however, underwater there are many variables affecting water quality and the life these habitats support. My goal is to encourage the audience to help shape the narrative of the role we play and our interdependency with the natural environment. We all have the agency to make change and connections to the coastal environment,” Andre says.

About the Artist:

Nedret is a painter and blogger working in South End, Boston. She earned her BFA in Painting at Massachusetts College of Art and received her MFA in Visual Arts from Maine College of Art. Her abstract oil paintings are process-based; exploring color, texture, mark-making, gestural drawing, and experimentation of oil paint through drips and flows. Inspired by the urban landscape of New England which has evolved from its coastal marshland and Sienese frescos by Ambrogio Lorenzetti, her paintings explore the vitality of seagrass for oxygenation. She works on restoration projects and collaborations with local marine ecologists. Part of each sale or commission proceeds is donated to nonprofits that advocate for ocean awareness and participate in seagrass preservation.

Events:

Thursday, Nov. 3rd | 6 pm: Exhibition Opening & 5th Anniversary Party

Friday, Nov. 4th | 5-8 pm: First Friday Extended Hours

Thursday, Dec. 1st | 6 pm: Seagrass and Community Building through Art and Environmental Activism

Friday, Dec. 2nd | 5-8 pm: First Friday Extended Hours

Sunday, Dec. 11th | 11 am SoWa Winter Festival MakerSpace, with 2 pm Talk & Gallery Tour with the Artist, 2:30-3:30: "Catch and Release" Live Performance and Improv with Shelly B. Phillips

Friday, January 6th | 5-8 pm: First Friday Extended Hours