In a world increasingly removed from the rhythms of nature, the work of Paula Michele Wagoner offers a striking invitation to return—to the shorelines, the stories, and the subtle ecosystems we too often overlook. Through her oil paintings, Wagoner constructs mythic narratives that echo both personal memory and universal ecological concerns, all while weaving in feminine power, transformation, and the sacred tension found where water meets land.
Her works, The Littoral Thread and The Heron Maker, are not just visually rich—they are spiritually resonant, drawing from both environmental awareness and timeless mythos. These are paintings that hum with tidal movement and whisper warnings of what could be lost.
The Littoral Thread: Where Myths and Mermaids Merge
In The Littoral Thread, viewers encounter a gulf mermaid—not the polished fantasy of children’s books, but a solemn, intertwined figure shaped by shells and tides. She is a creature born of water and memory, her form seemingly dissolving into the ocean’s motion. Around her, shells cling and unravel, echoing the fragility of the ecosystems Wagoner seeks to protect.
This piece is a vivid evocation of transformation—silent and inevitable. The mermaid represents not only myth but also the human longing for meaning in the face of vanishing beauty. The threads that tie her to the sea also signal what tethers all life to the health of the oceans. In Wagoner’s world, these threads are literal and symbolic, pulsing with connection, but also vulnerability.
The Heron Maker: Crafting Guardians of the Sky
The Heron Maker is a companion in tone but expands vertically—both literally and thematically. A female figure releases herons into the sky from a vessel, as though she were crafting them from clay or summoning them from the spirit world. The herons take flight like prayers or emissaries, their long wings stretching toward an unseen destination.
This act of creation is both mystical and maternal. Herons, long associated with patience, vigilance, and water’s edge, become symbols of what must be nurtured if it is to thrive. In the face of climate change and ecological damage, the question posed seems hauntingly simple: If only we could make more herons—what if we could replenish the world’s losses with the same care and creativity with which we destroy?
Littoral Spaces: The Thresholds That Haunt and Heal
Wagoner’s central artistic concept—littoral spaces—guides the themes of her work. These are the thin, often-overlooked zones where land and sea meet: tidal flats, estuaries, mangrove roots, and shell-ridden shores. Having been raised on Sanibel Island, Florida, Wagoner carries a deep, personal understanding of these regions’ enchantment and ecological importance.
Such spaces are not just physical—they are metaphoric thresholds, where transformation occurs, stories emerge, and damage quietly accumulates. The line between earth and ocean is ever-shifting, and so are the narratives that arise from it. Her paintings, rooted in these boundaries, offer a contemplative pause—reminding us that the most liminal places often hold the most meaning.
The Artist Behind the Canvas
Raised on the sun-drenched Gulf Coast, Wagoner’s early life was marked by tidal waters, shorebirds, and the slow poetry of nature. These childhood impressions became the seeds of her artistic voice—one that harmonizes conservation, literature, and visual storytelling. Now living and working in Naples, Florida, she continues to explore these ideas with a mature, thoughtful hand.
Her process combines traditional oil techniques with modern sensibility. She works from a blend of live models and photographic references, capturing real-world detail and infusing it with allegorical power. The resulting works are rich in symbolism and layered brushwork, built to engage both the eye and the spirit.
Narrative as Environmental Witness
What distinguishes Wagoner’s work is her ability to weave narrative with environmental advocacy—not through overt slogans, but through poetic resonance. Her paintings ask quiet but urgent questions: What are we losing? What stories are being drowned? What beauty might we still preserve?
Rather than depicting ecological collapse directly, she paints the emotional aftermath—the longing, the myth, the sacred feminine, and the eerie quiet that follows absence. Her figures—whether mermaids or creators of herons—are vessels of empathy, holders of memory, and embodiments of fragile power.
Conclusion: A Call to Wonder and Stewardship
In a time of ecological urgency, Paula Michele Wagoner offers a gentler, but no less compelling form of activism—one rooted in wonder, story, and reverence. Her art is not only a mirror to the world we inhabit, but a portal to the world we could still choose to protect.
By anchoring her paintings in littoral zones and layering them with myth and meaning, Wagoner reminds us that these delicate spaces—both physical and spiritual—deserve our attention. Her work, like the herons she sets loose on canvas, carries hope on its wings.
