I have found myself painting bridges since opening a studio in East Oak Lane, Philadelphia, in 1971. The studio was situated ten feet from a bridge over the North Penn Railroad.
It was natural for me to stand on that Oak Lane Bridge and paint many landscapes from it.
I would see trains passing under it, as well as cars and people passing over that bridge. To me, the bridge connected me to life, becoming a crossing—an interesting way for me to grow as an artist and a person, seeing that active outdoor world.
Since that beginning relationship with bridges, I have painted old stone ones in Philadelphia neighborhoods on the Indian-named creeks, like Tookany, Skippack, Pennypack, and Wissahickon.
The many bridges over the Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers and along the canal and waterways, have fascinated me, too, because of their architecture, patterns, and the insight into the 300-year history of the settlement of the Delaware Valley.
Bridges have given me comfort, connecting me to that relationship of humans to nature and the practical need of being able to manage and conquer a way of crossing over terrain.
Symbolically, bridges show me a way of working with others, building ways to get somewhere that would have been impossible for one person.
This idea intrigues me. Particularly the warm feelings I get with covered bridges, cocoon-like, protecting humans and animals, as well as the bridges’ foundations.
They offered strength, dryness, and even large gathering opportunities and pathways for adventure that would have been impossible without them.
Now that my studio is in Cape May County, I continue to use bridges, to paint my plein-air paintings of waterways, often seeing a stream or marsh in a different up close way.
I plant myself near them, or even on them, and remember the connections to art, nature, and history: “The blurring lines of paint and water echoing that of man and nature crossing boundaries.”
I realized the value of bridges when my husband, Robert McShain, went to work as a counselor for the Woodbine Wellness Center. He needed paintings for his office and the thought of a counselor as a bridge to wellness, became apparent.
Having over 100 paintings of bridges led me to an understanding of sharing the thought of my philosophy with others; a way of bridging the gaps and helping others over troubled waters.
The paintings will be on exhibit at the Woodbine Wellness Center, 514 Washington Ave., Woodbine, 609-861-2400.
Janet McShain’s studio is located at 1196 Delsea Drive, Dennisville, 609-861-7124.
