“Light defines—colors invited by beautiful pastel paints, oceans, nature, the littoral zone… a liminal tide of limitless artwork.”
Inspired Beginnings: A Coastal Path to Art
For m Karla Wave, the journey into art was shaped by her surroundings on the East Coast of the United States. Growing up near the misty shores of Cape Cod, she found herself immersed in landscapes that would eventually inform her creative voice. The interplay of light and shadow along this coast, coupled with the vast fields and historic architecture of Western Massachusetts, provided a rich tapestry of inspiration. Within these elements, she discovered the dual influences of nature and human design, which continue to shape her work to this day.
Wave’s early exploration of art began with pastel paintings, a medium that allowed her to capture the soft hues and ephemeral qualities of her coastal environment. From her first solo exhibitions to gallery showcases along the shore, she gradually built a reputation for translating the delicate beauty of her surroundings onto canvas. With the influence of renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted in mind, Wave began to view the world through a lens that appreciated the harmony between natural landscapes and artistic spaces.
Today, she combines her love for painting with a passion for photography and video, focusing primarily on capturing oceanic scenes and underwater realms. Through her work, Wave draws viewers into the liminal spaces between land and sea, between the material and the abstract. Her practice has evolved to include sound videos—a medium that allows her to merge her visual and auditory experiences of nature, creating an immersive, multisensory art form.
m Karla Wave: The Thresholds of Light
Central to Wave’s artistic philosophy is a fascination with light, which she considers both her muse and her subject. She sees light not merely as a tool but as a defining element that shapes the atmosphere, texture, and emotion of her work. Describing her style as a blend of “softness with sharp geometrics,” she often uses pastel colors to craft scenes that evoke tranquility and subtle contrast. Her compositions play with the tension between gentle gradients and precise shapes, producing images that appear to float in suspension, as if inviting the viewer into a suspended moment in time.
This dedication to light leads Wave to explore themes rooted in nature’s untouched beauty, focusing on the littoral zone—the area between high and low tides. For her, this space represents an endless canvas, where pebbles glisten and mica sparkles in the soft glow of morning and evening light. The mist and fog of dawn become motifs in her work, embodying the delicate line between clarity and obscurity, reality and imagination. Her fascination with intertidal zones reflects her broader interest in spaces that are transitional, those which invite contemplation and elicit a sense of the infinite.
Accompanying these visual themes are sounds she associates with the coast, such as foghorns and the gentle clinking of sailboat halyards. These auditory elements, she believes, add depth to her work and evoke memories of her early experiences by the sea. Through her videos and paintings, Wave aims to transport her audience to these quiet moments of introspection, capturing the essence of nature’s understated elegance.
Exploring the Mindscape: Influences and Inspirations
Wave’s work is deeply influenced by both classical and contemporary artists, drawing directly from the aerials of Richard Diebenkorn and the bright colors of Wolf Kahn’s pastels on paper. Inspired by painters like Winslow Homer, who captured the rugged beauty of Maine’s coastline, she developed an early fascination with artists who convey the raw power of nature. Additionally, abstract expressionists and the Cape Cod School of Art have left an indelible mark on her aesthetic, particularly through their shared focus on mood, light, and color fields.
Literary figures like Ralph Waldo Emerson and poet Mary Oliver resonate with her sensibilities, especially in their focus on nature as a source of wisdom and serenity. The works of Wassily Kandinsky, Mark Rothko, Edward Hopper, Fairfield Porter, James McNeill Whistler, and J.M.W. Turner also inform her understanding of color and atmosphere, guiding her as she navigates the delicate interplay between abstraction and realism. Wave’s connection to the environment extends beyond artistic inspiration; it is deeply personal. With climate change now altering the landscapes she loves, her work also serves as a tribute to a world she hopes to preserve through her art.
Driven by her belief in art’s power to foster hope, Wave frequently reflects on how nature’s resilience parallels human strength. Her appreciation for the healing aspects of art has inspired her to create pieces that aim to uplift and inspire audiences, particularly in the face of environmental challenges. By capturing the elements of nature that may soon be lost, she seeks to evoke both a sense of nostalgia and a call to action, urging viewers to reconnect with the world around them.
m Karla Wave: Merging Art with Technology for a Healing Future
As Wave’s practice has evolved, so too have her mediums. Originally working in spacious studios with large canvases, she now finds herself adapting to a smaller space, a shift that coincided with advancements in digital technology. Painting on an iPad, she has embraced the possibilities of digital art, using her photographs as a foundation for new works. This shift has allowed her to bring her art to new audiences, while still maintaining the tactile experience she cherishes with pastels and paints. Despite the constraints of a smaller studio, she dreams of returning to a larger space where she can again work with non-toxic oils and explore large-scale compositions.
One of her latest endeavors involves sound videos that merge her visual art with musical compositions ranging from jazz to rock. Her goal is to create immersive experiences that amplify the therapeutic aspects of art, inspired by the work of neuroscientist Edward Vessel. Vessel’s research, which highlights the positive effects of nature imagery on mental well-being, has motivated Wave to envision her videos not only in museums but also in health facilities. By placing her art in environments dedicated to healing, she hopes to foster an atmosphere of tranquility and hope.
Looking forward, Wave remains deeply committed to her artistic path, pursuing projects that celebrate the interconnectedness of art, nature, and human emotion. As she collaborates with online galleries and publications, she anticipates the launch of a new website, which will serve as a platform to share her latest works. For Wave, each piece represents a fragment of her ongoing dialogue with the natural world, capturing the fleeting beauty of light and the enduring strength of the human spirit.
You can reach out m Karla Wave at [email protected]
This artwork and more on sale at Gallery NORTHEAST: https://ANASAEA.com/artist/mkarlawave
