Deidre Tao spent her childhood growing up next to a pond where she paddled canoes, caught frogs, and played “all day, every day.” She nurtured a similar love for nature in her own children.

As an adult, she became a fine art painter, focusing first on figures and still lifes. A mentor noticed a horizon line beginning to show up in her abstract paintings. “Follow that and see where it takes you,” she said.

That line led her to landscapes, particularly coastal landscapes, paying homage to her love for New England and its coast. “Her use of line and rendering of light, reminiscent of American Barbizon paintings, clearly translate different moments of the day and year, resulting in works that convey a unique sense of place.” says Jessica Roscio, Director and Curator of the Danforth Museum of Art in Framingham, Massachusetts.

Deidre Tao’s Little Sippewissett Marsh on display

Water, sky, land—it’s a trinity that calls to her for all sorts of technical and emotional reasons. “There’s so much to be inspired by,” she says. “Rivers, ponds, the vegetation in the sand, the movement of the water and the skies. Also, these places evoke such positive family memories.”

She traipses all over New England to find her inspiration and often finds it in the Buzzards Bay watershed. A quarter of her waterscapes feature places in the watershed, including Woods Hole, West Island, Wood Neck Beach, Horseneck Beach, Nasketucket Bay, Aquinnah, and Demarest Lloyd State Park, and many other local spots.

This spring, she gifted her painting Little Sippewissett Marsh to the Coalition. It will be displayed in the New Bedford headquarters as a thank you for our land protection and conservation work. “I’ve always wanted to give back,” Tao says. “As an artist, I benefit directly from the landscape. If these areas were developed and privately owned, I wouldn’t be able to access these remarkable scenes.”  She appreciates the Coalition’s work protecting access to nature for the public, but also for generations of artists.

The Coalition seems a natural home for the beautiful oil painting depicting the tidal area beside Falmouth’s Woodneck Beach. Tao recalls the day she came upon it as the tide started creeping—and then rushing—in, when her young kids hunted for slipper shells and pebbles, seaglass and crabs.

The painting is anchored by the shimmering green seagrasses providing a respite of quiet and calm. The tidal activity below the grass and the clouds above exude movement and energy. You can almost hear her kids just outside the frame, buckets in hand and immersed in outdoor adventures.

“This is a beautiful rendering of an important salt marsh in the watershed,” Coalition President Mark Rasmussen says. “Deidre’s painting reflects what we know to be true: These places are important and need to be preserved, for us and for generations to come.”

Little Sippewissett Marsh will be displayed for the public in the Wheeler Learning Center through May 15 by appointment. Email lajoie@savebuzzardsbay.org to set up a time to visit. Find out more about Deidre here.