THE OCEAN

BETH MILLER

The ocean studies originated on the coast of Fire Island, an island off the southern shore of Long Island, near my family’s home. I was initially drawn to the site by an enduring fascination with the threshold between sea and shore. My focus soon shifted, as I became increasingly intent upon the substance and movements of the ocean itself.

The preliminary exercise, to draw the course of a single wave from crest to break, initiated a struggle to find the media and marks that best suited the subject. Quick, gestured lines best capture the volume in motion, while tone forms a textured, rolling surface. The surface is sculpted to evoke the ocean’s swell, the sense of bulging out from and collapsing into a void, and is carved to articulate crest and trough. The wave appears as a multifaceted event within a surface, with moments of activity balanced by areas of latency. The wave drawings, having shed any sense of place, are isolated frames of frozen motion or portraits. This realization sparked a drastic change in scale, which reveals the horizon.

The drawing of the ocean describes the threshold between sea and sky. The formidable horizon defines a limit, while the edges of the frame subside. A vacuous central gulf replaces the swell. The ocean is an impenetrable identity, an infinitely enigmatic chasm, and an inexhaustible subject to explore through drawing.

FIGURE 22

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Conté crayon, pencil, and gesso on canvas