[image: IMG_4030.jpeg] LES BAIGNEUSES (The Bathers) Mosaic Sculpture by Beverly Moreland October 1 through December 12, 2021 at Foss Waterway Seaport Foss Waterway Seaport is pleased to present *Les Baigneuses (The Bathers),* an exhibition of mosaic sculpture by Beverly Moreland. 2020 was a year of profound social disarray, with COVID-19 shutting down businesses, dissolving work schedules, and leaving many struggling simply to keep track of what day it was. But for Seattle-based artist, Beverly Moreland, the pandemic provided a slate of uncharted time - and an opportunity to pick up an art form she left off 25 years ago. “When covid struck and the quarantine began, I had the perfect strategy to keep me energized and busy,” she says. The result is Les Baigneuses, a stunningly beautiful series of life-size, mosaic torsos on view at Foss Waterway Seaport Museum from October 1 through December 12, 2021. “Twenty-five years ago, a girlfriend and I took a mosaics class at Bedrock recycling [in Seattle],” says Moreland. At Bedrock, which repurposes building and landscaping materials, “I did a few mannequins' heads and legs,” learning to create patterns in broken shards of glass, then grouting the design into place. But then Moreland packed up her art materials, for decades. Les Baigneuses marks her return to the medium, and demonstrates her powerful instinct for the ancient technique. Each torso exudes a striking persona (accordingly, each one is named). Under the artist’s hand, the armature completely disappears inside a skin of sinuous line, expressive color and rich texture. Moreland had a decades-long career as a hair salon designer during which her art practice was put aside. “Fast-forward to the end of my career: After I retired six years ago, I planned to travel,” she explains. “I was going to volunteer in Cambodia with an organization, Justice and Soul, that taught hairdressing to former victims of sex trafficking.” Unfortunately, a series of neck and back surgeries put an end to her plans for teaching job skills to Cambodian women. As fate would have it, her natural skill and passion for mosaic coincided with the onset of the pandemic. “Two years ago, I discovered that I’d saved the heads and glass, and started working again. I bought two legs, then a torso. I learned everything through trial and error. The torsos provided a much larger canvas to work on, with myriad possibilities.” The torsos also gave Moreland a 3-D canvas on which to explore her fine sense of fashion, some of it sexually charged or futuristic. Along the contours of the body, jewel-like glass buttons run through vibrant fields of glass, giving the eye a path to follow, front and back. “I soon became addicted. It provided me a creative outlet, a way to use my years of color and design in a new medium, and a way to keep my hands and mind busy. “Two years later I have 13 pieces. They are primarily recycled torsos from closed department stores, with recycled glass from Bedrock Industries. It takes a minimum of one month to design, draw, cut and attach the glass, and finally grout. Although they were originally intended as outdoor art, I subsequently learned that the mannequins I bought new during the pandemic were made of PE plastic which made them unstable outdoors in the sun. Those five are for indoors only. The remainder are grouted with a very high-end outdoor grout for temps to minus 30 degrees. The lightest weighs 16.5 lbs., the heaviest 24 lbs.” In addition to creating a series of work that will be a museum highlight during Tacoma Arts Month, Moreland has found a way to pursue her dream of helping women in Cambodia earn a sustainable living. “Since I had planned to volunteer during my retirement and was deterred by my surgeries and covid, I intend to give 20% of the mannequin sales to the Justice and Soul Foundation.” - Lisa Kinoshita Les Baigneuses (The Bathers) by Beverly Moreland, will be on view at Foss Waterway Seaport Museum from October 1 through December 12, 2021. Address: 705 Dock St., Tacoma 98402. Phone: 253/ 272-2750. Open Thursday through Sunday, 10am-4pm. Masks and social distancing required until further notice. www.fosswaterwayseaport.org. Meet the artist during the Third Thursday Art Walk from 4-8pm; admission for the event is free! [image: image.jpeg]