“Shipwrecked,” an oil painting on canvas by Jenny Lathan, was recognized as a work of distinction at the “Ocean State of Mind” exhibition at the Rogers Free Library in Bristol. It was called “an amazing depiction of the power of a stormy sea.”
A local painter’s depiction of a sailboat run aground, inspired by Hurricane Henri’s impact on the East Ferry waterfront in August 2021, has been recognized as “a work of distinction.”
“Shipwrecked” by Jenny Lathan is featured in the “Ocean State of Mind” exhibition at the Rogers Free Library in Bristol through July. The show is devoted to seascapes, and “Shipwrecked” was among three paintings featured on the promotional flier.
“It made my day,” Lathan said. “I wasn’t really expecting that.”
Lathan, 32, said she was honored that her painting was recognized as a work of distinction by juror Elizabeth O’Connell, a watercolorist from Warren. O’Connell called the square-foot oil painting on canvas “an amazing depiction of the power of a stormy sea.”
“The choice of palette, the angle of the boat, limited composition and the texture of the water all convey excitement, terror and unpredictable endings,” she said.
Lathan is a lifelong Jamestown resident who teaches art at Melville Elementary School in Portsmouth and Harbor Creative Arts in North Kingstown. She graduated from Rhode Island College with a bachelor’s degree in January.
LATHAN
While at RIC, Lathan was encouraged to work in a range of mediums, from drawing to printmaking, but her main concentrations are ceramics and painting. As a painter, she primarily works in oil to create landscapes, seascapes and still lifes. Her grandmother was a landscape artist.
“My paintings often have a certain mood and motion and aliveness to it, by the texture of the brush strokes that I use and my limited color palette,” she said. “I try to capture a moment in time, kind of like Impressionism. I try to convey a mood through my painting. I like to show nature in my landscapes, mostly scenic areas, mostly of Jamestown.”
In 2021, Lathan entered two prints into a juried exhibition, “It Takes all Types,” at the Bristol Art Museum. Through her participation in that show, she was invited to display in the “Ocean State of Mind” exhibition. The theme was for artists to capture their views of the sea, and the moods they experience from being on the coast.
“Rhode Island has a historical relationship with the ocean for travel, fishing, trade, pleasure and politics,” O’Connell said.
Lathan said the artwork ranged from calm and peaceful to dark and stormy, like hers. Along with being inspired by a sailboat that ran aground during Henri, Lathan said the painting was influenced by the work of 19th century English painter William Turner, who was known for his turbulent maritime seascapes.
“It was more of a hectic scene,” she said. “I was trying to capture a chaotic scene with dispersed lighting and a composition that was intense.”
Lathan painted “Shipwrecked” in 2022 during a single three-hour college class with a limited palette. She started by underpainting in orange because she wanted light to peek through, and she used blue as a complementary color and added grays to depict the dreary, stormy mood.
“I stuck with greens, grays, blues and oranges,” she said.
Lathan decided to paint the sailboat off to the side, and the sea closer to the boat is foamy and dramatic, but the background is calmer to show that the storm is passing. Another focal point of the painting is the sky, which is common practice for her work.
Lathan has a second painting in the show, “Zeek’s Creek,” which depicts a calmer landscape scene of the titular body of water. Lathan painted it during the same spring 2022 semester when she painted “Shipwrecked.”
“It’s a representation of where I’m from,” she said. “Driving by Zeek’s Creek every day gives me a sense of peace, so that was my interpretation of that scene.”
As with “Shipwrecked,” Lathan used a limited color palette to create “Zeek’s Creek.” She said the physical landscape allowed her to add depth into that painting because the trees in the backdrop draw the viewer toward the bay.
“It really takes your eye back,” she said.
Aside from the painting, Lathan created the frame for “Zeek’s Creek” in a woodshop class. She also created frames for her grandmother’s landscapes after she died.
“I measured everything,” she said. “It connects directly to the Masonite that the painting was painted on.”
Lathan, with three exhibitions on the horizon, said there was no second-guessing when it came to choosing “Shipwrecked” and “Zeek’s Creek” for the Rogers show.
“When I saw it was ‘Ocean State of Mind,’ I knew right off the bat that these paintings needed to go in this show,” she said. “They weren’t made for the show, but I feel like they were perfect for the show.”
