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Coastal M A S S AG E & S P A
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3000 sq. ft. of wellness
7205 wrightsville ave. suite 108
www.coastalmassagespa.com | 910.208.4161
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WBM july 2018
THE positive memory
of children playing at
the beach is one that
has a nostalgic appeal
for Maret herself.
She grew up visiting
Wrightsville Beach every summer with
her family and even worked a season at
Robert’s Market.
“It was the place where we went to
escape our small town and just get
away for a while,” she explains.
Her fondness for the ocean and the
Wrightsville area is seen in “Friends.”
The painting — also composed on a
small canvas, requiring the viewer to
lean in close — depicts three women
in sun hats and bathing suits. The background
is abstracted in Maret’s signature
style and suggests the women are
standing on the shore as waves break
in front of them, with their ankles disappearing
under the incoming tide.
The central figure gently grabs the
arm of the woman to her right for support
as the group gazes inquisitively at
the water and sand. The coral-colored
underpainting peeks through Maret’s
blue-green scene, preventing the
viewer from reading a “real” likeness in
the image. Complemented by Maret’s
linear, loose brush strokes, “Friends”
invites its audience to reflect on our
own treasured beach days with loved
ones.
Maret began displaying artistic talent
during her childhood.
“I was one of those kids who drew
and won the poster contests and
pumpkin carving competitions, and
those early successes made it easier to
return to it later,” she says. “My colors
were even brighter then.”
She remembers mixing her own dye
from pokeberries that grew in her yard.
The berries yielded a dazzling shade of
pink that she describes with a chuckle
as “a color that is not of this world, but
somehow actually is.”
Despite the early promise, she never