Common Waters
Common Waters is a collaboration between Maine Lakes and Maine artists rooted in the understanding that water is shared, ecologically, culturally, and ethically. Through newly commissioned works, artists will respond to Maine’s lakes as living systems shaped by time, care, and human presence and create a unique work of art that will be reproduced as fine art prints. These works are meant to move outward, carrying attention and meaning. Each piece will become a moment of connection between art and advocacy, observation and responsibility.
By connecting artists with lake organizations, Common Waters forges new relationships between creative practice and conservation. Proceeds from print sales support the ongoing work of Maine Lakes, affirming art as a form of stewardship and collaboration as a way of caring for what we hold in common.
Our first commission was awarded to Tessa Greene O'Brien. Tessa is an artist & curator based in South Portland, Maine. She received a BS in Fine Art from Skidmore College and an MFA from Maine College of Art and Design. O'Brien has shown throughout the United States, including recent exhibitions at Candice Madey Gallery, New York; La Loma Projects, Los Angeles; Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME; Platform Project Space, Brooklyn; Vardan Gallery, Los Angeles; Dowling Walsh Gallery, Rockland; Buoy Gallery, Kittery; Sears Peyton Gallery, New York; Studio E Gallery, Seattle; and the Center for Maine Contemporary Art. She was a 2022-2023 Residential Fellow at The Lunder Institute for American Art at Colby College; other residencies include Surf Point, Tides Institute, Monson Arts, Haystack, Hewnoaks, Vermont Studio Center, Joseph A Fiore Art Center, and Stephen Pace House. Grants and awards include the Berkshire Taconic Foundation, Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation, The Ellis Beauregard Foundation, the Maine Arts Commission, the Joseph. A. Fiore Painting Prize, St. Botolph Emerging Artist Award, and the Kindling Fund at SPACE Gallery.
O’Brien has curated group and solo exhibitions at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Alice Gauvin Gallery, TEMPOArts, and numerous shows at Able Baker Contemporary, where she was previously a director.
Tessa will be creating a new work of art for us in 2026, and will be joining us in hosting a community event later this year.
Artist Statement, 2025
I make my paintings using traditional textile art processes including dyeing the canvas, bleaching, sewing, and batik. I have a long-stanging appreciation for textile arts, and an interest in incorporating such processes into my paintings. I am inspired by the Support/Surface movement of the 60’s, whose artists deconstructed painting into its inherent materials of wood and cloth, and I cite Sam Gilliam, Helen Frankenthaler, Claude Viallet, and Louis Cane as influences. By choosing to incorporate sewn seams and frayed edges into the paintings, I am reminding the viewer that they are looking at a piece of fabric, in addition to an illusionistic image, and I enjoy playing with the tension between object and illusion. My interest in textiles also stems from my early Waldorf education and the rural creative community that raised me, where fiber arts were widely taught and practiced. I learned to card and spin wool from sheep that my family raised into yarn for knitting, and dyed fabric to sew into puppets and doll clothes. As every decision affects the outcome of a painting, I choose to embed the surface with the domestic and material histories associated with textile arts to add an additional layer of meaning.
I am primarily painting landscapes at the moment, focusing on the rural Maine landscape that I grew up in. I work from direct observation, painting en plein air, from photos that I have taken or collected from my family archives, and from memory. I often return to the same locations to develop a body of paintings over many years, getting to know the landscape in various seasons, times of day, and sociopolitical climates. This prolonged engagement with a place allows me to understand it on a number of levels, including local gossip, folklore, boundary line disputes, politics, tax assessments, and so on. While I am not interested in illustrating these issues in a social realism style, I do believe that holding knowledge about the complexities of a landscape allows me to make formal decisions around color, composition, & marks to create an image hinting at some of this nuance. |
Images
Norton Island, 2025, Oil, bleach, wax resist on dyed canvas, 60” x 48”
A late afternoon autumn field with the sun setting over the ocean in Addison, Maine
Moonrise, Kanazawa, 2025, Oil, bleach, wax resist on dyed & sewn canvas, 23” x 25”
The moon rising over a botanical garden pond in Kanazawa, Japan, during the peak of the cherry blossom season.
Eveningward, Addison, 2024, Oil, bleach, wax resist on dyed canvas, 60” x 48”
A recent nocturne depicting the moon rising over the ocean in Addison, Maine
Clear Blue Morning, 2018, Oil on panel, 36” x 36”
A slice of Lake Hebron in Monson, Maine, as seen through two historic downtown buildings, with the one on the right under construction to become a Monson Arts Studio. Painted while I was in residence at Monson Arts.