Environmental and Science Communication
A showcase of my collaborative work with non-profits, scientists and foundations. My process begins with a conversation and the realization that something needs to be communicated in a new way. Next we dive into a cycle of research, field visits, digital drafts and revisions. Finally I compose the final product, in media ranging from woodcut to watercolor. The pieces below put an innovative spin on data and history in order to communicate my collaborators complex projects, research and solutions to their audiences. I love learning from these projects and creating something unique and mission-serving.
National Beaver Working Groups
(2024)
These carved plywood panels were made for the four National Beaver Working Groups. This is a collective of four-themed sub-groups researching, creating actions, sharing knowledge, and supporting each other through Science & Research, Policy & Management, Beaver Management Practices, Education & Communication, and Funding.
I love sharing how people are working with beavers to restore landscapes and watersheds. I worked with the Methow Beaver Project to design and bring these ideas to life. Inspired by wood-gnawing rodents, I transferred my wood carving skills from relief woodcut to inked and carved panels. This new twist on my art practice celebrates the plywood matrix as the final product. With four panels, each 2 x 2.66 feet, this was the largest area I’ve ever carved for one project. To finish the panels, I rolled milk-based casein ink on the surface and then applied a sealant.
Methow Beaver Project
(2022-2023)
This watercolor piece was made for the Methow Beaver Project as outreach for post-wildfire streamflow restoration work in the Methow and Okanogan River watersheds. Artist statement forthcoming.
“Research is showing beavers are essential to healthy landscapes, species recovery, and water quality and quantity, but they no longer inhabit much of their historical range. How can we capture water on the landscape without beavers? How can we get beavers to stick in relocation areas? How can we naturally recruit beavers to desperately needed restoration sites? How can we restore natural function to rivers and streams? Designing and installing Beaver Dam Analogues (BDA) or Post Assisted Log Structures (PALS) that mimic a beaver dam has proven to be effective way to address these questions and needs. MBP has begun installing these structures as a way to capture more water on the landscape, recruit beavers, and assist beavers in establishing at restoration sites.” MBP
What is Missing?
While studying at Colby College I was awarded the Lunder-Buck internship to work with renowned sculptor Maya Lin and her What is Missing? team of Casey Carter and Alexandra Jones on assembling timelines of environmental history throughout the United States. What is Missing was conceived by Maya Lin as her last memorial, addressed to the extinction of species around the world. The central way these stories are told is through place-specific timelines.
These timelines are composed of evocative first-person quotes and accurately dated imagery. The arc of these stories follows pre-settlement accounts of abundance, through development and industrialization, and into the environmental movements of the later 20th century and present day. Ultimately, those who experience the timeline better understand what is missing from a place and can connect to the current stewards and organizations of the conservation issues at hand.
My role in this project was to research and create a brand new ecological timeline for the state of Maine and curate three regional timelines alongside my fellow intern Helen. These timelines, along with a trove of other stories, can be found on the What is Missing? website.
Our work culminated in an exhibition and conversation hosted by the Colby College Museum of Art and Lunder Institute. View our conversation in the video here.
Lab Logos
The examples of my graphic and logo design work shown above come from a collaboration with Bess Koffman, Assistant Professor of Geology at Colby College. Bess studies past changes in Earth’s climate system. The projects that I illustrated focus specifically on the transport of sediment from explosive volcanic eruptions in Alaska, through wind, glaciers, and rivers, and the impacts of that sediment on terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Volcanic Blooms originated as a woodcut whereas the Colby Lab for Ice and Climate is a digital design.
