Exploring Shifting Landscapes

Exploring Shifting Landscapes addresses and documents current impacts of climate change on the landscapes of interior Alaska. It uses an interdisciplinary approach to investigate the relationship between people and place and to inform a broad audience about current environmental changes. Art broadens individual perspectives and communicates and forms connections in ways that words and charts cannot. 

I investigate these themes by partnering with scientists to learn and share information about their work; following scientists into the field to observe their work, speaking with them about their research, and reading studies to form background knowledge of the locations I paint. Bright, dramatic colors vary from the naturalistic landscape palette, to illustrate and emphasize invisible chemistry, while enhancing the visual effect of the work. Abstract and representational combinations make the work accessible to varying aesthetic preferences.

This project was made possible by an URSA grant from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Undergraduate Research and Scholarly Activity grants are available to conduct student projects such as this one. I encourage all fellow students and art students specifically to apply! I am so grateful for this experience, and for all the help from my amazing mentor, scientists, painting professor, my painting peers, and the URSA office.

“Release and Revival” speaks to the cycle of wildfires in the boreal forest. Fires often result in increased biodiversity, and can benefit the ecosystem in different ways, such as increasing the amount of nutrients available to plants.
8 x 10 Acrylic on Canvas 

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Glacier Collection