Statement
Bubbles of ancient CO2 captured in Arctic ice; mottled primordial landscapes
that, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, grew inside houses; fractal patterns
formed by the liquid contaminants in urban runoff -- these phenomena represent
nature in transition due our culture's destabilization of the environment.
The formations that manifest at such sites inspire me, in part because I have
always lived at the water's edge, from my childhood on Cape Cod to adult life in
New Orleans and New York City. For instance, a series of kinetic sculptures and
wall drawings made of tiny black and white-headed pins borrow the patterns of
the lethal molds that emerged in homes in New Orleans after Katrina’s
floodwaters receded; a multi-channel video projected on to glass windows of a
service station captures the chemical turbulence on the surface of puddles on
the streets of New York, and an installation of over a thousand hand-built
porcelain sculptures represents marine barnacles that will increasingly occupy
coastal areas as our actions warm the globe and waters begin to rise.
Environments under stress are more than a thematic aspect of the work as the
materials themselves have transitional qualities and are subject to interactive
and evolutionary change. Ceramic sculptures are bisque-fired, without the final
firing that would render them impermeable, leaving them porous and vulnerable.
A series of blown glass “bubbles” installed in an outdoor urban lily pond take on
water and algae from the pond as they become a part of the landscape, and
reflect the world around them on their surfaces.
I explore the liminal space between nature untouched by human intervention
and the "new nature" we ourselves have created.
Bubbles of ancient CO2 captured in Arctic ice; mottled primordial landscapes
that, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, grew inside houses; fractal patterns
formed by the liquid contaminants in urban runoff -- these phenomena represent
nature in transition due our culture's destabilization of the environment.
The formations that manifest at such sites inspire me, in part because I have
always lived at the water's edge, from my childhood on Cape Cod to adult life in
New Orleans and New York City. For instance, a series of kinetic sculptures and
wall drawings made of tiny black and white-headed pins borrow the patterns of
the lethal molds that emerged in homes in New Orleans after Katrina’s
floodwaters receded; a multi-channel video projected on to glass windows of a
service station captures the chemical turbulence on the surface of puddles on
the streets of New York, and an installation of over a thousand hand-built
porcelain sculptures represents marine barnacles that will increasingly occupy
coastal areas as our actions warm the globe and waters begin to rise.
Environments under stress are more than a thematic aspect of the work as the
materials themselves have transitional qualities and are subject to interactive
and evolutionary change. Ceramic sculptures are bisque-fired, without the final
firing that would render them impermeable, leaving them porous and vulnerable.
A series of blown glass “bubbles” installed in an outdoor urban lily pond take on
water and algae from the pond as they become a part of the landscape, and
reflect the world around them on their surfaces.
I explore the liminal space between nature untouched by human intervention
and the "new nature" we ourselves have created.
© Beth Dary 2012