At the Spring Street Studios, the swirls of paint on several canvases are mostly blue, as a painting depicts the back of a brunette in a green dress suspended in mid-step through a pool of crystalline water. The painting, “Plain Embrace,” is one in a series of 14 by artist Janavi Folmsbee.

The series, titled “Reflect to Refract,” shows scenes of young women and men immersed in water: one smiling, a few making goofy expressions and a couple kissing. Outside of water, they look as though they’d be selfies posted online.

Above a white linen sofa, underwater photos hung on a string. Folmsbee said she really loved scuba diving, and the more she dives, the more she falls in love with the ocean.

For all the effort Folmsbee said she puts into her art, she said she doesn’t get too attached since she works on more than one piece at a time.

Folmsbee’s workspace is scattered with canvases, both clean and unfinished pieces. Oil paints slathered on palettes glisten under the lights while brushes are collected in one of many recycled jars. Even away from the canvas, she said she paints on some of the jars she collects, using some as lamps with electric candles.

Be sure to catch our interview with Janavi Folmsbee!

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