Codium Seaweed Studies
Material explorations of Codium fragile seaweed, a troublesome species along New England coastlines that originates from Japan. I gather it from beaches and coastlines, process the natural material into paper pulp, draw with it, and allowed to dry organically.
Exhibited at: Five Points Gallery, Torrington CT, FVAC Drezner Gallery, Avon, CT, Sprout Gallery, Providence RI, The National Taiwan Craft Research and Development Institute, Nantou County, Taiwan, IAPMA Congress Member Exhibition, Sophia, Bulgaria, 3rd International Paper Biennale, City Hall Gallery, Meitar, Israel
Blind Wave Drawings with Sputnik Seaweed, Artist-made paper pulp from Codium fragile seaweed, abaca, 36β x 28β x 6β, 2017
Blind drawing involves continuously looking at the subject without glancing back to the sketch itself. This series of sculptural paper works is based ocean surfaces of the New England coast, and using foraged seaweed.
Oyster Thief, 12 in. x 61 in. 2 in., 14 sculptures approximately 7 x 5 x 2 in. each, seaweed (Codium fragile), beeswax, 2017.
For this group of 14 wall sculptures, I harvested Codium fragile from the ocean beaches of Buzzard's Bay, Massachusetts. It degrades native eel grass, which provide shellfish beds. The seaweed fiber is processed into a paper pulp, and allowed to dry into irregular, dimensional forms. Finally, the forms are dipped into beeswax and bonded together.
Little Harbor Beach Studies, Handmade Paper, Codium Fragile Papyrus, Linen Thread, Beeswax, 11βx14β, 2017
Presented in a series of 4 works. Little Harbor Beach Studies are a response to Codium fragile. These are squares of seaweed papyrus presented on handmade flax paper, and sewn with linen thread, raw flax threads, and beeswax.