eARTh: How Sustainable is Your Habitat?
April 20 – July 13, 2024
SHOW NOTES
Artwork is listed alphabetically by title
The Meeting House Gallery is pleased to present the exhibition, eARTh: How Sustainable is Your Habitat?, featuring artworks by 17 artists who work in a variety of media, including recycled and reclaimed materials. eARTh also features tapestries from the Tempestry Project, which are works of fiber art that visually display deviations in average global temperatures in specific regions of the world.
eARTh is a first-time collaboration between the Gallery and the OMI Green Team, an environmental group based at the Oakland Mills Interfaith Center (OMI) where the Gallery is located. The OMI Green Team is made up of members from OMI congregations who plan and participate in activities and projects that promote environmental sustainability. These efforts are primarily focused on recycling, composting and stormwater management.
The OMI Green Team is also a member of Interfaith Partners for the Chesapeake (IPC). IPC’s “mission is to inspire and equip people of faith to honor, protect, and restore our shared watershed.” In partnership with IPC, the OMI Green Team strives to educate people about environmental sustainability and mobilize them to take action locally.
To honor that mission, the juried artwork in eARTh has been selected to share an artistic viewpoint on some of the world’s most pressing environmental problems. The themes represented here explore human interaction with the environment from spiritual, historical, cultural, economic, sociological, scientific, technological, and international perspectives.
To encourage exploration of environmental sustainability issues (and hopefully an appreciation for art!) by the young and young at heart, we've created an eARTh Caching Game for all ages. As people visit the exhibition, they're invited to match the clues with the artwork. CLICK HERE for the online form.
Abundance
Sheela Becton
Abundance is inspired by an understanding that all existence is deeply connected. The layers of this painting symbolize the dependence of all living things on the energy from the sun and earth’s natural resources. The generosity of the earth and its bountiful but finite resources makes abundance possible. But we cannot truly thrive unless there is harmony between humans and nature, which requires a willingness for us to share the bounty. Living in harmony requires respectful and responsible coexistence with nature to maintain an ecological balance. Living in harmony requires conscious choices and deliberate actions to ensure abundance for all. Abundance is not just a physical state but a way of being. By living in harmony with creation, we all flourish and Earth remains our sanctuary.
Aftermath: Starting to Flow
April Rimpo
Aftermath: Starting to Flow was inspired by my closeup photo of wood chips and debris that had washed into my yard after a storm. In the painting I added cool blues to break up the warm, wood colors and found myself thinking of water flowing through the chips. Portions of the painting began to look more like flowing water, so my intended abstract closeup evolved more toward an image of a creek finding its way through a blockage.
My shift in thinking made me also consider transformation in life and the glimmer of new possibilities. The location of the photo is near where a doe gave birth to her fawn in a stand of raspberry bushes. Their presence in the yard brings me hope that I’ve provided an environment suitable for wildlife. Hawks fly overhead and lots of native Maryland birds live in the bushes and trees. My little haven is bordered by a stream that provides water for wildlife visitors, like the water in my painting.
All That Glitters
Sandhi Schimmel Gold
Diamonds may glitter but all that glitters is not gold. The snake in All That Glitters was inspired by the end of a friendship. I learned that some diamonds are not a girl’s best friend and not all friendships are golden. This work was created on a repainted canvas from hand-cut pieces of junk mail and other paper that would have ended up in a landfill. The tiny faux gems are left over from a Diamond Dotz pattern created by my daughter. Through the hurt from the loss of a friend, these upcycled materials were transformed into a beautiful, uplifting piece of art.
Amber Weighs of Grain
Ken Clark
In Amber Weighs of Grain, the humble grain elevator – a symbol of agricultural abundance and efficiency – invites us to acknowledge the interconnectedness of urban and rural communities, consider the origins of our food, and examine our choices about how we feed ourselves. What are the environmental costs of mass production by large agribusiness conglomerates? Of growing monocultures that require treatment with pesticides and herbicides? Of raising animals in confinement on factory farms? Of long-term storage of food stuffs on nutritional quality? Of processing, packaging and shipping the final product over long distances? How can our habits and choices about what we eat—where our food comes from and in what form it’s delivered and consumed—contribute to a more sustainable future for ourselves and the planet we call home?
Approach to the Narrows - Zion
Sharon Fuller
The Virgin River is the focal point in Approach to the Narrows - Zion. The power of the river carved the canyons and mountains of Zion National Park. The beauty of the scene masks the danger of flash floods and steep trails that can put visitors in deadly peril. Even so, the increasing number of visitors is threatening efforts to protect and preserve the special character of this much-loved park. Access is managed in some areas, with park shuttles the only vehicles allowed and a limited number of trail permits issued per day. This balancing act will become more common in other areas of our lives as we encounter an increasing number of stressed ecosystems in a climate-changed world.
Beach at Sunset with Machair
Jennifer Rusiecki
The frontlines of plastic pollution are our oceans and shorelines. Machair is a unique ecosystem of low-lying grasses and wildflowers near the beaches of northwestern Scotland, my mother’s homeland. Even in this relatively remote part of the world, the machair cannot escape contamination by plastic. It is threatened by plastic waste washing up onto its beaches and contamination of its soil and water by micro- and nano-plastics. I wanted to contrast this ugly reality with the beautiful, vivid colors that characterize this precious ecosystem.
Bending Sunlight
Stephanie Chupein
Bending Sunlight depicts a vast cosmic scene, where swirling hues of deep blues and oranges intermingle against a backdrop of celestial darkness. At the center of the canvas, the sunlight reflects off an imaginary planet, casting a warm glow. Through its abstract expression, the painting invites us to contemplate our place within the vast web of existence. Planet Earth is our only home and the sun’s energy is vital for our existence. We are called to nurture and preserve the life in the ecosystems that the sun brings forth and sustains. Even small actions have far-reaching consequences for the delicate balance of life on Earth.
Bluebird Reverb
Nancy Lorentz
In this Chesapeake Bay scene, a solitary Eastern bluebird perches on a weathered piling. A striking horizontal band of colors, reminiscent of a malfunctioning TV set, cuts across the canvas. The juxtaposition of the natural world and technological interference in Bluebird Reverb symbolizes how our adoption of technological advances to address one problem can lead to disruption or destruction in other ways.
In the 1950s and 1960s, farmers used the synthetic pesticide DDT to control insect populations that decimated crops. This had devastating consequences for the Eastern bluebird. The resulting loss of its food supply, its reproductive success hampered by thin eggshells, and competition from other species for nesting habitat led to a dramatic decline in bluebird populations. After DDT was banned in 1972, the bluebird population bounced back. This is one example of how modern technology that addresses threats to environmental sustainability may itself be a threat to that sustainability.
Cat’s Cradle
Cynthia Rivarde
The patterns of the mangrove roots and their reflections remind me of the game this piece is named after, Cat’s Cradle. To create the intricate linear patterns, you pinch, pull and wrap a loop of string around your fingers and hands, until there is less and less loose string and your hands are bound together more tightly. The mangroves control erosion and storm surges in much the same way. Their roots make the water loop and eddy around them, dissipating the energy of the tide. As the water swirls around the roots, soil and sand settle out. This sediment is deposited in the mangrove forests, building up and protecting the shoreline from erosion.
Divine Mother Earth
Sheela Becton
As a child growing up in India, my family made frequent trips to visit temples. It was on these visits that I learned about devotion to the Divine. Often Nature is referred to as Mother Earth, or the Divine feminine, which is a favored and familiar subject in my art. Mother Earth is Divine. She gives unconditionally and deserves our devotion.
In Divine Mother Earth, the temples in the background capture the memories of my childhood visits and symbolize devotion to Nature. Mother Earth is represented by a woman with an inquisitive parrot perched on her shoulder. The serene expression on the woman’s face and the ease with which both creatures negotiate the shared space convey a sense of harmony and balance. We are reminded that, as a part of Nature, we are called to honor Mother Earth by living harmoniously in her creation.
Drowning
Irene Whitaker
Drowning could be a visual essay about how we are physically drowning from the impacts of climate change. Melting polar ice causes a steady rise in sea level and loss of habitable shoreline. Extreme weather events cause historic flooding and mass destruction of property, habitat and life. But that is not my message here.
Drowning is a very different visual essay. It reflects my despair about the human threat to our environment. Humans seem incapable of acting in earth’s best interests. We are one species on earth who knows what is happening but the only species that can act intentionally to avert environmental catastrophe. And yet, we are our own worst enemy. We continue to voraciously consume limited natural resources. We continue to destroy habitat in the name of progress and commercial gain. We continue to ignore calls to take action and change our behavior even when we’re given the knowledge and tools for doing so. We seem hell bent on destroying the planet and each other. Feels like we are drowning.
Ellicott Mills
Nancy Berson
Ellicott Mills was inspired by the historical record of the late 18th century home and flour mill built by Joseph Ellicott, a member of one of the founding families of Howard County. An ambitious project, the multi-story house, mill, out buildings and a large fountain were constructed on the western bank of the Upper Patapsco River near the area now known as Hollifield. Joseph died just 5 years after its completion. The entire complex fell into disrepair, likely from periodic flooding in this watershed.
The painting depicts, as in a dream, the rainstorms that caused the flooding. Superimposed on the background is all that remains of the settlement and the aspirations of its inhabitants: the hammer that once built it and the rusted nails that once held it together. Ellicott Mills and the history of Joseph Ellicott’s mill tells a tale that resonates today in historic Ellicott City and elsewhere. Human ambition and ingenuity are often no match for the relentless challenges from natural elements and geography.
Finger Lickin’ Good
Steve Harvey
Olive baboons like this adult and juvenile spill onto the road and weave in and out between waiting vehicles at the gate to Ngorogoro National Park in Tanzania. And why wouldn’t they? Food scraps like this fried-chicken bone tossed from a car window are irresistible to non-human and human primates alike.
An asphalt surface littered with scraps of paper, motor oil stains, fast-food remnants, and discarded single-use plastic bottles like the one under the wheel of this truck are not the classical setting for wildlife photography. But here these features raise apt questions about the health and sustainability of our shared habitat.
A Flaming Beauty
Sandhi Schimmel Gold
One of the occupational hazards of being a paper artist is being aware of the source of my materials: trees. Paper – made from processed, bleached and dyed wood pulp – was once a magnificent life form. Climate change is taking a toll on trees. Higher atmospheric temperatures cause heat stress. Air pollution stunts growth. And extreme weather events, such as wildfires, are decimating forests and the creatures that call them home. Clearing forests for development and agriculture is decreasing the capacity to capture carbon. Yes, sacrificing trees in managed burns is essential to the health of the ecosystem. But as earth heats up, more and more trees (this one is made of acrylic and fabric paints) will go up in flames in wildfires caused by extreme weather events or human carelessness.
A Flaming Beauty explores yet another threat to trees. Our commercial culture generates an insatiable appetite for paper products. The elements of fire in this piece were created from “pages” using a paper mosaic technique. The mosaic pages, made from recycled advertisements, were cut into sinewy shapes to capture the energy of the fiery flames. The fire, literally made of advertisements that drive consumerism, is figuratively consuming this tree. It symbolizes all trees “sacrificed” for commercial gain. By reusing the copious recycled paper remnants discarded from other upcycled artworks to create the colorful conflagration in A Flaming Beauty, this tree will not be consumed. It will last forever!
Flora
Sandhi Schimmel Gold
One theme I explore in my art is beauty, faces and the cultural significance of advertising to women. The cosmetics and beauty industry is a dominant cultural presence, with women its targeted audience. Beauty products are marketed as having the power to rejuvenate, enhance and transform. But what is the impact on the environment from this quest for beauty? Each year, beauty products account for 120 billion units of packaging. Those plastic bottles, jars and tubes account for 70% of the industry’s waste, much of it non-recyclable and destined for the landfill. Rather than enhancing earth’s natural glow, the beauty industry contributes to its premature aging.
Flora is a paper mosaic portrait inspired by two independent-minded women: Flora MacDonald, the Scottish lass who smuggled Bonnie Prince Charlie over the sea to Skye, and the British-born artist, Margaret Macdonald. Flora’s plaid top and the floating Mackintosh roses (named after Macdonald’s husband) emerge from mosaics and collage assembled from hand-cut pieces of the very junk mail, scrap paper, packaging and advertisements that are used to market and sell beauty products to women.
A Forest Path
Stephanie Chupein
A Forest Path is evoked by vibrant colors that dance across the canvas. The layers of translucent greens, blues, and earth tones meld together to create an immersive sense of depth and movement, as if from a gentle breeze. At first, this abstract expression may appear chaotic but, as with nature, a sense of order and peacefulness emerges. Each leaf, branch, and patch of light contributes to the beauty of the whole. It is a reminder of the interconnectedness of all living beings and our role in preserving our natural world for future generations.
Global Production of Plastic Since 1950
Jennifer Rusiecki
Global Production of Plastic Since 1950 plots plastic production from 1950 to 2021, as reported by the plastic industry. I chose to plot these data, for the irony, in shades of green plastic packaging, the raw material used in my artwork. In one human lifetime, the world’s annual plastic production has exploded from 2 million tons to nearly 400 million tons. These numbers are an underestimate because they do not include synthetic fibers. By 2017, 50% of the world’s plastic production had occurred in the previous 15 years.
Continuing this exponential growth, plastic production is expected to double by 2050 to 1 billion tons. My mother grew up in the 1940s when almost nothing in her home was made of plastic. Seventy-five years later, my children are immersed in plastic – living in it, wearing it, and ingesting it in their water. Plastic has revolutionized our world by making possible low-cost consumer goods (think Tupperware), life-saving medical equipment, and the technology that connects us (computers and cell phones). Plastics also contribute to sustainability by making cars lighter and more fuel efficient, buildings more energy efficient, and the components of solar and wind power more durable.
But today, 44% of all plastic is used in packaging and becomes plastic waste. By 2050, plastic waste is projected to quadruple to 26 billion tons. This vast avalanche of waste pollutes our soil and the oceans, breaking apart but never decomposing. Reducing our plastic production and consumption could provide some of the biggest gains in environmental sustainability.
Gorgeous Gertrude
Nancy Cann Shimer
This very large Snakehead showcases the specie’s beautiful color patterns. Unfortunately, the Snakehead is an invasive species that is wreaking havoc on the delicate ecosystem of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. Gorgeous Gertrude was painted using the indirect method of Gyotaku. A special paste is used to adhere silk to the fish and then inked dabbers are pressed on the silk to achieve the impression. Almost every scale was individually printed. The silk fish impression was cut out and glued onto paper, which was hand dyed to evoke the reeds and grasses, which are Snakeheads’ preferred habitat.
Grand Canyon Morning
Sharon Fuller
The Colorado River is not visible in Grand Canyon Morning but over eons it carved the Grand Canyon and is the lifeblood of the surrounding area today. Out of sight at the base of the chasm on the left side of the painting, the Colorado River is front and center as the key player in the region’s history, geology, its flora and fauna, and in the lives of its human residents. Water rights disputes continue over the use and abuse of the river among states, Native American tribes, the federal government, and other groups. Solutions that preserve the Colorado River and this delicate ecosystem will require cooperation, collaboration, compromise, and humility about the human contribution to its current condition.
Heating Up
Irene Whitaker
Temperatures are rising. Tempers are flaring. Planet earth is on fire.
Impermanence Today/Impermanence Tomorrow I
Sharon Malley
Impermanence Today/Impermanence Tomorrow I depicts sea level rise as imagined from space. In the first painting of the diptych, you will recognize the Eastern Shore of Maryland as it appears today, with the lower part of Kent Island extending into the Chesapeake Bay, the St. Michael’s area, and Tilghman Island pointing down from Knapps Narrows. The second painting is a depiction of how, over time, sea level rise due to climate change will gradually shrink the land masses. The effects are striking. The loss of coastline creates more islands and pockets of human isolation.
Often we think that sea level rise will cause sudden and dramatic changes, with islands disappearing overnight. Sea level rise caused by climate change takes place over a longer timeframe but is no less dramatic. In the last ten years, inhabitants of the Eastern Shore and other low-lying areas in Maryland and along the East Coast have experienced more frequent “sunny day flooding” that causes progressive recession of the shoreline. These noticeable, incremental changes mean that impermanence tomorrow is impermanence today.
Impermanence Today/Impermanence Tomorrow II
Sharon Malley
Impermanence Today/Impermanence Tomorrow II depicts sea level rise as imagined from space. The first painting in the diptych shows South Marsh Island in the lower Chesapeake Bay as it appears today. The second painting is a depiction of how, over time, sea level rise due to climate change will gradually shrink the land masses. These images are not based on published scientific models. However, scientists use computer models to more accurately simulate how the contours of a land mass will change as the sea encroaches on the shoreline. These models are based on historical data as well as predicted effects of known contributors to sea level rise. While not perfect, the models continue to improve at estimating the timeline of these changes. What they tell us, like these paintings, is that Impermanence Tomorrow for future generations is already the reality today for current generations.
Indian Food
Jennifer Rusiecki
India generates almost 4 million tons of plastic waste a year, much of it single-use plastic that is not recycled. (The United States generates 3 times as much and recycles only 7-9%.) Plastic packaging for groceries, food, cosmetics, and other consumer goods, along with rising urbanization and the growth of retail chains, are to blame for India’s vast buildup of plastic garbage. In addition to polluting the landscape, plastic waste in landfills often catches fire when methane gas ignites in scorching summer heat. The toxic fumes from burning plastic contribute to air pollution and lung disease. In 2022, India instituted a ban on single-use plastics in an ambitious effort to address this crisis.
In Indian Food, I pay homage to this amazing land of color and spice. In suburban DC, my family frequently cooks the Indian food of my husband’s homeland. Much of the packaging is as colorful as my mother-in-law’s saris. If you look closely, you can see the names of products and brands commonly used in the Indian kitchen. These cheerful colors and patterns cannot mask the tragedy of plastic’s huge environmental toll and the challenge that lies ahead for India and the world.
Inner Life
Cynthia Rivarde
The sun-dappled reflections of the arching mangrove roots in the bottom panel of Inner Life are suggestive of the vibrant and dynamic life that’s hidden beneath the water’s surface. The graceful yet sturdy roots extend from the sky into the murky depths to anchor the mangrove forest in the sediments along the shore. The roots below the surface create a home for untold species of fish, amphibians, reptiles, crustaceans, grasses, microbes and fungi. The mangroves’ delicate and lyrical forms belie the hardy, salt-resistant trees that recycle nutrients from runoff, filter toxins, and buffer the shoreline from storm surges.
Microplastic Murder
Irene Whitaker
The world is drowning in plastic. The most common visuals of this problem are photos and videos of crumpled plastic bottles and toys and clothing and other detritus of modern life washing up on far-flung and not-so-far-flung beaches. If not for these “dunes” of trash, these beaches would be considered places of pristine beauty. Out in the ocean, rotating currents or gyres create massive whirlpools that draw together trash on the surface to form garbage patches. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch has an area of 1.6 million km, twice the size of Texas, and is visible from space. And these are not the only forms of pollution in the oceans.
Microplastic Murder depicts the plastic pollution that lies beneath the ocean’s surface. The pollution we cannot readily see is caused by the disintegration of nonbiodegradable plastic waste into tiny microscopic particles, called microplastics and the even smaller nanoplastics. The potential environmental and biological hazard from this “out of sight, out of mind” pollution is yet to be fully realized. Only with time will we understand how microplastic pollution of our water and food supplies will impact life (and death) as we know it on earth.
Navajo Loop Trail View
Sharon Fuller
At an elevation of almost 9,000 feet, the beauty of Bryce Canyon as depicted in Navajo Loop Trail View masks some of the dangers. Hoodoos, Bryce Canyon’s signature geological features, are massive and magical rock formations created from the erosive action of wind and water. Hidden areas around hoodoos and the length and elevation changes of the trails can be deceptive. Flash floods when rains come, dehydration in hot, dry conditions, and physical exertion in thin air can surprise and challenge many visitors. Sound familiar? Climate change has brought severe weather that leads to devastating flooding, extreme heat, wildfires and droughts. Air pollution contributes to respiratory illness. Navigating the effects of human activity on the environment is akin to being a hiker in Bryce Canyon. We must be prepared to adapt and try our best to leave no trace.
The Ostrich and the SGR
Steve Harvey
Nairobi, Kenya, is Africa’s only capital city that contains a national park within its borders. Visitors to the park, just a 15-minute drive from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, can observe a great variety of African wildlife including lions, wildebeest, buffalo, rhinos, giraffes, and ostriches in their natural habitat. The trestle seen in the background of this image is an elevated section of the Nairobi to Mombasa Standard Gauge Railway, popularly known as the SGR, allowing animals to move freely about the park. In a world where an ever-expanding human population threatens the survival of many animal species, Nairobi National Park offers an example of a successful co-existence.
Plastic Planet
Jennifer Rusiecki
In Plastic Planet, the beloved planet we call home is captured by the contrast in the vivid hues of blues and greens of discarded plastic packaging. Plastic trash, such as the packaging used here, breaks apart into microplastics, which are infinitesimally small particles of plastic. Microplastics have contaminated the most remote corners of our planet. Microplastics and even smaller nanoplastics have been detected in waterways and oceans, soil and food, the digestive tracts of animals, human blood, ice in Antarctica, and even in the clouds over Mt. Fuji. Unless we do something, Earth will become a plastic planet.
Playa Cuevo de los Peces, Cuba
Peter Stern
Playa Cueva de los Peces is located in the Bahía de Cochinos, or Bay of Pigs, on the southern coast of Cuba. Playa Cueva is a popular diving and snorkeling destination because it is home to some of the healthiest coral in the Western Hemisphere. Government protection through limited coastal development and restrictions on overfishing have contributed to this distinction.
In Playa Cuevo de los Peces, Cuba, the surfaces of a submerged boat host an incredible variety of coral polyps and their algae and other marine organisms. This is an example of a man-made, artificial reef that conservationists are using to rebuild coral populations. Shipwrecks, as well as ships and structures that are intentionally submerged, serve as anchors for corals to grow and build a protective habitat for other species.
Coral reefs worldwide total 348,000 square kilometers. Artificial reefs are not enough to overcome the threat of climate change. Rising ocean temperatures cause coral polyps to expel their symbiotic algae and become bleached. Ocean acidification slows the rate of calcium carbonate deposition and hinders coral skeleton growth. In addition to the effects of climate change, coral reefs are under assault from pollution, overfishing, and tourism. The loss of coral reefs and their shoreline protection, food supply, potential medicines and other benefits will only exacerbate the effects of climate change and the resulting sea level rise.
Plein Air Glitch
Nancy Lorentz
Plein air artists, who paint outdoors with the subject in full view, enjoy a challenging yet rich and immersive experience in which they connect with nature, develop artistic skills, and create authentic, dynamic art. Plein air artists are poets, not reporters, when it comes to capturing their impression of the landscape.
In Plein Air Glitch, a lone artist captures a serene river scene under the towering presence of a tree. The juxtaposition of the diminutive figure and mighty tree suggests that humans are one small element of our environment. The pixelation running down the left side of the painting, however, reminds us that humans are having an outsized impact on the natural world through how we engage with it, record it, and alter it by physical and technological means. The pixelation or visual degradation that can occur when images are digitized at low resolution or displayed at high magnification is symbolic of the chaos as well as the beauty that technology can bring not only to art but also to modern society and our environment.
Punta Perdiz, Cuba
Peter Stern
Numerous species of sponges are found among the coral reefs of Cuba. Like coral, sponges are invertebrates with a calcium carbonate skeleton. Unlike coral, sponges have a much simpler body structure without specialized tissues. Their porous surface allows water and nutrients to pass through and be taken up directly by cells. As a result, sponges play an important role in filtering toxins and bacteria from seawater and making nutrients available to other animals. They can reproduce by budding or by spawning, their larvae drifting long distances to populate new locations.
A particular species of sclerosponge, Ceratoporella nicholsoni, is found in Cuban waters. Because C. nicholsoni can live for 500 to 1,000 years, it has recently been used to more accurately determine a baseline for pre-industrial global temperature. As they grow, C. nicholsoni deposit strontium along with calcium carbonate into their skeletons. Uptake of strontium varies with atmospheric temperature. Ratios of strontium and calcium in layers of the sponge’s skeleton are a living record of global temperature fluctuations. Adding this measurement method to others already used by scientists will allow us to better understand the rate at which industrialization is bringing about climate change.
Rockfish on Blue Background
Nancy Cann Shimer
The striped bass, known as rockfish by locals, is Maryland’s State Fish. Striped bass migrate along the East coast, with the Chesapeake Bay serving as a major nursery habitat. The striped bass population has struggled to recover from overfishing in the 1970s and 1980s. Recent challenges have been overfishing of their prey, oxygen-depleted areas (dead zones) created by algal blooms from agricultural runoff, higher water temperatures, and recreational catch-and-release fishing. The Washington Post reported in December 2023, “The stock of young striped bass has been troublingly low since 2019, according to data collected by the state, making this the worst stretch in the species’s history since its population collapsed in the 1980s. This year, a key indicator of breeding success sank to its second-lowest level ever."
This copy of Rockfish on Blue Background is from an original printed on silk in the Gyotaku Method.
Runoff
Cynthia Rivarde
By the end of the 20th Century, the world had lost more than 50% of its mangrove forests. Many that remain today are in poor health and not well protected. Shrimp aquaculture is the biggest threat to mangroves. Clearing wetlands to construct artificial ponds, building channels to divert water,, treating shrimp with chemicals and antibiotics, and discharging the organic waste contribute to a continuing decline in mangrove forests. Agriculture and real estate development are also major factors.
Runoff depicts an “aerial” view of a mangrove forest. The red water is likely due to a buildup of tannin leached from mangroves. Rain has caused the red swamp water to be flushed out of the wetland basin. The polyphenol compounds in mangrove tannin have protective properties. In the bark, polyphenols protect the trees from harmful bacteria and fungi. Polyphenols in their leaves protect against damage from insects and UV radiation. Tannin’s antioxidant properties protect mangroves during times of stress. Tannin also has a role in maintaining nitrogen balance in the wetland ecosystem, ensuring enough of this key nutrient for all inhabitants.
Sacred Places
Ken Clark
Sacred Places reflects humanity's relationship with nature. This tranquil scene depicts a docile deer emerging from behind a towering Redwood tree. The deer symbolizes the vibrant yet vulnerable state of inhabitants of the natural world, while the colossal Redwood represents the enduring strength and resilience of our planet's ecosystems. The deer is gazing back at the viewer, alert and wary, perhaps ready to bolt. Drawing the viewer into an otherwise peaceful scene conveys the often disruptive force of human presence on the delicate balance between living beings and their habitats. As one of those living beings, it is incumbent on us to minimize that disruption and protect and preserve our environment for all.
Smokey the (Polar) Bear
Steve Harvey
As global temperatures rise, the United States has become accustomed to reports of devastating wildfires that sometimes destroy entire communities like the 2018 Camp Fire that wiped out Paradise and Concow, California. Canadian wildfires featured less prominently in US consciousness – at least until the summer of 2023 when their drifting smoke sparked US Environmental Protection Agency unsafe air alerts as far south as North Carolina.1 The 6,595 Canadian fires recorded by October 2023 were not unusual in number, according to NASA. However, they were unusually destructive, scorching 18.4 million hectares, an area NASA described as “roughly the size of North Dakota.”2
This photograph, taken the evening of August 14, 2023, on the shore of Hudson Bay near Churchill, Manitoba, shows a polar bear seen through the haze produced by Canadian wildfires burning north of the Arctic Circle. The next morning, an excursion leader commented that she’d initially considered the previous night’s outing as a disappointing introduction to polar bear photography. Upon reflection, she decided that these images might have greater impact than any others we would take because they documented environmental shifts that could lead to extinction of the species.
CNN: https://edition.cnn.com/2023/06/30/weathe23-fire-seasonr/canada-wildfire-smoke-great-lakes-friday/index.html
NASA: https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/151985/tracking-canadas-extreme-20
Snakehead Fryball
Nancy Cann Shimer
Snakeheads were introduced into the Chesapeake Bay area in the early 2000’s. This non-native, invasive species of fish is a fast breeder, spawning several times a year. Voracious eaters, Snakeheads have the potential to reduce or even eliminate native fish populations and disrupt aquatic ecosystems.
Snakehead Fryball shows Snakehead adults guarding their young, hundreds of “fry” swimming in the center. This art media is indirect Gyotaku, a traditional Japanese art form. Silk is pasted on the real fish and inked dabbers made of silk and cotton are gently pressed on the silk, capturing the surface texture of the scales and fins. This is a copy of the original, which was displayed in The Changing Chesapeake, a year-long exhibit at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. It was so popular the museum bought the original.
Sunset Simulation
Nancy Lorentz
In the gently glitched Sunset Simulation, the fusion of digital manipulation and natural imagery prompts us to reflect on how human actions impact the delicate balance of ecosystems. The glitch might represent smog caused by carbon monoxide emissions from automobile exhaust or carbon dioxide emissions from manufacturing plants. Or it might represent smoke from wildfires burning commercial monoculture forests, otherwise known as green deserts, grown for paper production or construction. Or it might represent the destruction of the ozone layer by chlorofluorocarbons in refrigerants. This is a poignant reminder that the age of lightning-fast technological advancement may improve the quality of life for humans but at what cost to the environment and our place in it.
Target
Cynthia Rivarde
As I was driving to work one day, I noticed that the tree shown here in Target had been marked with a red dot for removal. Why was it marked to be cut down? Was it at the end of its natural life or had its life been cut short by disease, an invasive pest, or manmade pollution? Was it choked and stripped by a non-native vine that was introduced by design or without intention? How did I contribute to the demise of this living being?
That New John Deere
Steve Harvey
This reflection in a pond near Berkeley Springs, WV triggered a mental replay of the Nanci Griffith song, “Troubled Fields”:
But if we sell that new John Deere
And then we’ll work these crops
with sweat and tears;
You’ll be the mule,
I’ll be the plow
Come harvest time,
we’ll work it out…
Griffith wrote the lyrics as a tribute to her dust-bowl era grandparents who stuck it out on their Texas family farm while neighbors fled starvation, desperately seeking brighter futures on a distant horizon.
Today, those lyrics are a multifaceted metaphor. The family farmer, a romantic archetype of the American self-image, is an increasingly rare species. In its place, multinational agribusiness boosts yield through genetically-modified crops that confer resistance to diseases and pests and designer herbicides and pesticides that also kill desirable plants and beneficial insects. Widespread application of pesticides and herbicides contaminates soil and groundwater aquifers. Agricultural runoff into waterways is one of the biggest threats to marine life in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
Three for Three in Shoreline Protection
Chick Rhodehamel
These three images were taken in three different traditional black and white shooting styles: architecture, landscape, and street photography. The photographs were taken in three different locations: Ocean City MD, Bethany Beach DE, and Rehoboth Beach DE. These coastal communities have different socio-economic statuses but face the same real potential environmental impact of rising sea level and more severe storm surges related to climate change. They have three different approaches to this problem.
Ocean City Seawall Ocean City has chosen an almost 3-mile-long concrete seawall to protect the very commercial boardwalk stretch.
Bethany Beach Man-made Dunes Bethany Beach has chosen to use a manmade freestanding dune structure running the length of the community, a section of which is established just seaward from the boardwalk area.
Rehoboth Beach Structured Dune Rehoboth Beach has used its boardwalk to create a structured dune to protect the commercial area of the boardwalk.
In total, just these three communities have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to afford some level of protection from the rising sea.
Water, Water Everywhere
Sandhi Schimmel Gold
“Water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink” is a line from Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, a poem about how all creation must be treated with respect. In the poem, the ship’s crew dies of thirst even though they are surrounded by water. By polluting our oceans and waterways with agricultural runoff and plastics, we destroy habitat, disrupt life cycles and food chains, and cause the death of countless aquatic animals even though they are surrounded by what they need to survive, water.
The waves in Water, Water Everywhere are made from upcycled materials – mosaics of hand-cut paper from greeting cards and embellished with glass and plastic beads and cabochons. The shiny polished gemstones and sparkly reclaimed jewelry accents resemble the bubbles, foam and spray formed by the action of the waves and surf. By reusing and recycling the art materials, my ocean’s natural beauty is enhanced rather than degraded by plastic.
Worth the Price? I, II, III
April Rimpo
A trip to New Orleans offered unexpected artistic inspiration. The music, the food, the scenery and the art were so beautiful and such a joy to experience. When a ferry boat cruise on the Mississippi River neared the delta, the natural scenery along the shoreline gave way to a startling sight, huge oil refineries. I had been thinking about doing a painting about protecting our environment. I had been asking myself, Are we as a country doing enough to adopt renewable energy and alternative fuels? Are states and corporations truly committed to take action to lower carbon dioxide emissions and combat climate change? Seeing the refineries, I knew I had found a subject worthy of my canvas.
It brings to mind this quote by Edward Abbey written about 50 years ago, which may be even more true today. “It is no longer sufficient to describe the world of nature. The point is to defend it.” Within the refinery structure of each painting in the triptych is one word that together read, WORTH THE PRICE? What is your answer?