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Contemporary artist creates paintings inspired by sea life

Posted
Jodi Spiegel Arthur

Water. Artist Paula Cahill has been drawn to it for as long as she can remember – no matter the form it takes.

“The water has been a theme throughout my life,” the Doylestown Township resident said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s frozen.”

So, it’s no surprise that Cahill’s paintings reflect her love of water.

Her paintings are known for their dark blue backgrounds and compositions made of a single line that changes color and connects back to itself. Cahill mixes up to 100 gradients of color and lays them down one at a time, making certain intersecting lines are not the same color.

“What gives them their pop,” she said, “is the juxtaposition of color meant to evoke the bioluminescence of marine life if you’re diving at night or at deep depth.”

Cahill said she has done quite a bit of scuba diving, although not recently, and the colors are derived from her memories of scuba diving on coral reefs among tropical fish. She has at various times in her life been involved in all types of water-related sports, from swimming to ice skating, and always loved studying about marine life, such as fish and sharks, as a child.

A former speech language pathologist who became a stay-at-home mom, Cahill began painting later in life, while raising her children.

The first time she picked up a paintbrush, she knew she had found her calling. “I thought ‘Wow, where have you been all my life?’” Cahill said. “It was like falling in love or something – like lightening.”

A Michigan native, Cahill had moved with her husband and three young children to New Jersey from Salt Lake City, Utah, and her husband suggested she try classes at the Princeton Arts Council because of her interest in painting.

Cahill, who had earned a master’s degree for her previous profession, went on to study fine art, at Tyler School of Art and Architecture, where she earned a BFA, and at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, where she earned an MFA. She also studied at the Art Students League of New York and Parsons School of Design as a transfer student.

At first, Cahill painted still lifes and people, and it was during that time that a graduate school professor suggested she paint fish to learn to paint flesh.
Since the academy doesn’t allow animals, dead or alive, Cahill had to bring the fish home, to paint and then cook. After a while, she said, “My family started complaining.”

Cahill solved the problem by purchasing an aquarium, and around that time, she said, she became interested in abstract painting.

“I started tracking the movements of fish with lines,” she said. “My current body of work is completely about line.”

The artist said her initial attempts at abstract art were unsuccessful. However, after experimenting with abstraction for about five years, and after deciding she wanted to be a more serious artist and show her work, she contacted a gallery owner who advised her to devote herself to one thing.

That was in 2017. Now Cahill’s paintings are held in public and private collections throughout the United States, most notably the Charles Library Collection at Temple University, the PNC Bank Collection, and Capital One Headquarters. They have also been exhibited extensively in solo and group shows throughout the Northeast and mid-Atlantic.

“I even have a piece in China,” she said.

Cahill has worked out of her studio at the historic Crane Buildings in the Kensington-Fishtown area of Philadelphia since 2013.

“My work is interactive, inviting the viewer to track a meandering, color-changing path,” she said in her artist statement.

“I strive to push the historical conversation with line into the contemporary, and elevate the integral role it has played in art, design, and the sciences since its early appearance in rock and cave drawings. Geometry, personal experience, visual semantics, and art history all inform my work. The most recent works give a nod to Diego Velazquez, Pablo Picasso, Egyptian art, and Renaissance perspective.”

Cahill is participating in the Philadelphia Open Studio Tours, with her virtual open studio tour set for 6 to 8 p.m. April 21. Tickets are free at: cfeva.org/events/cfeva-opportunities/post2020tickets. In addition, Cahill is offering in-person studio visits during the month of April. Contact her at paula@paulacahill.com with questions or to schedule.

Cahill’s work can also be found in “Paula Cahill: Flash Solo” currently at the Susanna Gold Gallery, artsy.net/susanna-gold-gallery. Recently, one of Cahill’s painting was up for auction as part of the In Liquid benefit in support of artists in the Philadelphia region.

For information, visit Cahill at paulacahill.com, or email her at paula@paulacahill.com.

jarthur@buckscountyherald.com

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