At the Chandler Gallery, you can almost hear the waves lapping at the shore. Having spent many childhood summers by the water, Wendy Prellwitz is fascinated by how the weather, the seasons, the time of day and the tides change the surface of the sea.

“When you’re attached to something, it just pops up over and over [in your artwork],” says Prellwitz, and her prints are the product of hours spent contemplating the physical properties and metaphysical symbolism of water. Her work delves into the many characteristics that we bestow upon water: its beauty and mystery; the calm feeling created by its horizontal lines; the aspect of danger and the power of the sea; and how its immensity “induces a sense of awe, and a connection to something infinite and beyond you.”

Prellwitz seeks to represent water not through drawing or painting directly, but by creating an impression from marks that hint at the texture of water—like wood grain. She likens the behavior of ink during the monotype process to “the flow and movement of water.”

In several pieces, areas of stronger and fainter impressions suggest the columns of light and shadow that shimmer on the surface. In “Channel No. 8,” Prellwitz uses lines to “represent pathways in the water, unseen but understood, like the lines that connect channel markers or the points of sail plotted on nautical maps,” with faint verticals barely visible beneath the bold horizontal wood grains.

“Departure No. 6” features a dock printed from a plate set in the corner of an orange wood grain print, and the inset image gives meaning to the textured background. According to Prellwitz, docks introduce a “point of departure and arrival, implying a viewpoint of here vs there.” The docks and angled lines give the prints specific depth and create a forced perspective that channels the viewer’s gaze out over the water, while the absence of any watercraft or human figures charges each piece with both anticipation and longing.

“Flow” is on display at the Chandler Gallery from October 30-November 30, 2014 with an opening reception on Thursday, November 6, from 6-8 pm. Maud Morgan Arts is a program under the umbrella of the Agassiz Baldwin Community, a private non-profit organization with a forty-year history of quality programs and services in the Cambridge community. Maud Morgan Arts comprises a full arts program of classes and workshops for all ages, the Chandler Gallery, and a collection of original art by noted artist and community resident Maud Morgan (1903-1999). The agency works to reflect the diversity and talents of the community, bringing people together to make art, share art, and support visual arts education.