New Ecologies

I wander rivers and coastlines, observing novel plant communities thriving in distressed lands and waters. Nature is constant change and movement, and its plants are responding in abundance to how humans have degraded the Earth.

Collected plant fibers and seaweeds turn into paper pulp, which coats discarded electrical and communication wire. I make many small, abstract sculptures of plant forms and water. In a stream of consciousness, I connect the fragments to reveal new amalgamations of spiritual resonance.

These wall sculptures reflect a growth of novel relationships and consciousness—new ecologies emerging out of collapsing systems.

COMMON REED MOVEMENTS

62 x 36 x 4 in, reused electrical wire, artist-made paper pulp from sediment, jewelweed, abaca, flax, common reed

Warm fall months meant plenty of kayaking. I was drawn to Big River because it was a quiet, still, place—removed from modern life, though you go deep under the I-95 highway at one point. Going with the water flow, I observed the long lines of pond lilies, pickerelweed with spade-like leaves, and 15 ft. tall common reed alongside cattail.

Codium fragile and Lost Kelp of Narragansett Bay

40 x 50 x 3 in, reused electrical wire, Codium fragile seaweed and flax paper pulp

Kelp was once found wild-growing all the way up to Providence, RI in Narragansett Bay. Codium fragile is a so-called “invasive” Asian seaweed, increasingly present in the Bay, and originating from the coasts of Japan.