Capturing the immediacy of fleeting moments
This week we welcome Cass Waters, a mixed media artist working in painting, drawing, photography and sound. She studied at open studios across the U.S. while working as an art model, including the Scottsdale Artists’ School, the Missoula Fine Art Studio and The Palette & Chisel Academy of Fine Art. With a focus on community support and interdisciplinary collaboration, Waters founded the Chicago Artist’s Skill Exchange in 2021.
After relocating to Brooklyn to attend the New York Academy of Art, she earned her MFA degree in 2025 and founded Exchange NYC, a mutual support network for artists across mediums. Having developed a style that builds on alla prima, painting a “wet on wet” technique that encourages spontaneity in canvases often completed in one sitting, her work explores themes of intention, isolation and connection.
In Waters’ words: “I explore intention and absurdity, especially within relationships. My practice alternates between expansive landscapes and intimate figurative scenes. The landscapes are panoramic, filling the frame with a vast emptiness. They invite the viewer into a void where the implied figure is their own presence.
By contrast, other works depict women in close physical contact, framed by blank gesso and scattered ink. These frames highlight attention directed toward others and the narrowing of perspective that intimacy can bring. Together, these two modes consider how we perceive others and ourselves within shifting environments.”
See more of Waters’ work on her website.
