Visitors to Miami Lakes Town Hall will be able to learn more about the River of Grass through an art show entitled, “Celebrating Nature – The Everglades.”
The installation is of gilded photographs and oil paintings by Miami artist Deryn Cowdy. It is presented by the town’s Cultural Affairs Committee.
“I wanted to do an art exhibit to celebrate nature,” said Felicia Salazar, committee chair.
The art was chosen for two purposes: To recognize Earth Day on April 22. It also happens to be Water Conservation Month in South Florida.
Cowdy made photographs while visiting the River of Grass. She prints them onto clear film and places gold leaf behind the images, a technique that creates reflections and plays with light.
“They’re very luminous,” Cowdy said.
Her subjects are the landscape and the animals within it.
Cowdy is from Wales and was raised on a farm which inspired her to begin making art.
“All my life I have been very interested in the environment and nature,” Cowdy said. “I started painting my garden… I put [in] fishponds and I started off photographing that.”
In Big Cypress National Preserve, “I walked the whole 16 miles around the park,” she said. Armed with her camera, she would wade into the water to make photographs of flora and fauna.
One piece in the show is of a dewy spiderweb that looks almost three-dimensional. She has also made photos of the tree islands that dot the waterways.
Three oil paintings of soft blues and greens feature herons, clouds and sea grass and generate a sense of calm in the viewer.
“I am hoping to bring beautiful images to people that don’t necessarily know the Everglades or have time to go,” Cowdy said.
She also hopes to create conversations and awareness about the unique environment that is the water source for so many Floridians.
For more information to go www.deryncowdy.com or on Instagram @deryncowdy.
“Celebrating Nature – The Everglades” will be on display until April 30 at Miami Lakes Town Hall, 6601 Main St. It is open Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.