statement

I am an artist whose work is poetically influenced by my explorations of the woods and fields of New England, the literature of natural history, and a childhood shaped by life on a neighboring farm. My primary body of work investigates and depicts sensitive ecological environments both figuratively and abstractly. The work focuses on the connection of the psyche to nature and the translation of that experience through the perceptual process of painting. I believe that it is cultural attitudes that have the greatest impact on the condition of the environment. Artists perform a social function by producing visual artifacts that can have an effect on the attitudes of a society toward the natural world. This point of view has a long tradition in the history of landscape painting and continues to be relevant considering the current critical state of the environment.

Currently, I am the founder of Field Projects Gallery at Blue Horse Arts Studio located in Connecticut. Projects presented in this visual arts research space focus on critical environmental issues and/or drawing based research.

The "Shepherdess" is an invented portrait honoring artist turned farmer Natalie Van Vleck. Ms. Van Vleck was a pioneer not only by her being a woman exerting her independence as an artist during a time where women had difficulty pursuing  the visual arts as a career, but also having a concern for the disappearance of the agriculture lands that surrounded her studio in rural Connecticut and taking action on that concern. Ever inspired by the natural beauty of the rural landscape, Natalie eventually  turned her art from brush and canvas to creating a self sustaining farm. Recognizing the pressures of suburban sprawl (before the term was even coined) on these lands, she sought to preserve them for future generations. Consulting with prominent environmentalists, her studio and farm were transformed into the Flanders Nature Center in 1963, one of the first land trusts in the area. Today her studio is an environmental education center that fosters a love of nature through a myriad of programs preserving farming traditions and cultivating an appreciation of nature in children and adults through the visual arts.

bio

born: 1962, Waterbury, Connecticut

education

Western Connecticut State University,MFA,2004
Charter Oak State College,Connecticut,1987

selected awards/honors

Artists for Conservation ,Conservation Artist Award April 2012
State of Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection,Invitational Exhibit
Nanyang Teaching Teaching Excellence Award, Nanyang Technological University,Singapore
Nanyang Technological University,Grant for  Completion of Creative Research

selected publications

Dr.Adolfo Rodriguez Canto, "The Pitahayas in the Visual Arts, the History and the Literature", The Universidad Autonoma Chapingo, Institution of Public Education of Mexico, March 2013
Tracey O'Shaugnessey, "Bee Show," Cover article, Accent Section, Waterbury Republican American, June, 2012
"The International Painting Annual, Exhibition in Print," Volume I, Manifest Press, Cincinnati, Ohio,2011
Bridget Grady, "The Painting Room; A Painterly Approach to Research," International Journal of the Arts in Society, Common Ground Publications, 2010

selected solo or two-person exhibits

Bridget Eileen Grady, Founders Gallery :New Works,Winsted CT.,2014
Bridget Eileen Grady,The Artrium Gallery: Wetlands,Torrington, CT.2012
Bridget Eileen Grady,The Living Room Gallery of Artwell Inc, Torrington, CT.2012
Bridget Eileen Grady, Block 43 Gallery: Prima Matera,  Singapore,2007.

selected group shows

"High(Realism's Realism)", The Manifest Gallery, Manifest Creative Research and Drawing Center, Cincinnati, Ohio, 2013
State of Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. "Landscapes" and " Heminway Pond Series" by Invitation of the DEEP Commissioner Daniel Esty.7/2012
Manifest Creative Research Center,INPA 1, International Juried Painting Exhibition and Publication.Cincinnati, Ohio
The Nabi Gallery: National Resource Defense Council, Environmental Art Prize, Finalist, Exhibition, NYC 2010