BELFAST — For more than 40 years, artist Jerri Finch has explored water as both subject and experience. In "Water’s Embrace", on view at Waterfall Arts from September 10 through October 10, Finch invites viewers to move beyond the visual representation of water and consider its movement, sensation, atmosphere, and transformative power, according to Waterfall Arts, in a news release.

An Opening Reception will be held Thursday, Sept. 10, from 5:30 - 7:30 p.m., in the Clifford Gallery. 

Finch’s artistic practice evolved over decades, moving from appliqué to airbrush and machine quilting and ultimately to oil painting. Throughout these explorations, water has remained a constant source of inspiration. For Finch, water is not simply something to observe. It is something to feel: the salt on her lips, the wind in her hair, droplets of fog on her face, and the sensation of surrendering herself to its movement.

Cold-water immersion is an especially transformative part of Finch’s life and creative practice. When the water calls, she enters its cold embrace to float, swim, or gently move with it, according to the news release. These experiences have deepened her understanding of water as an immersive force and continue to shape the way she paints.

That sense of immersion extends directly to Finch’s process. She approaches each painting as an uninterrupted experience.

“I work wet on wet,” said Finch. “Meaning, it is on your mark, get set, go. Once I approach my canvas, it is a marathon. I do not paint over dried paint. And I do not stop until I am done.”

Water’s Embrace is an invitation to experience water through Finch’s eyes, but also through the senses.

Program Director Amy Tingle says of the work, “Water is the liquid that makes life on Earth possible. As water cycles from the air to the land to the sea and back again, water shapes our planet—and nearly every aspect of our lives. These works explore the fluidity, energy, and surrender that come from being immersed in something larger than ourselves. There's a peace and joyfulness Jerri captures in this body of work, a sense of fulfillment that time by and in the ocean offers to us.”

Through this collection, Finch hopes to inspire viewers to do more than look at the water—instead to embrace it in new ways.