ECOLOGY
Water: CodeBlue (2022) — Full View, 112(h) x 144(w) x 240(d) — Glazed and painted earthenware, glazed porcelain, china paint decals, photomontages on archival paper, dye sublimation photographic print on fabric, wood
WATER: CODEBLUE INSTALLATION
A lone traveler and her dog move through a vast desert landscape, pulling a red wagon filled with empty ceramic buckets marked with the daily fresh water needs of a child. Behind them a panoramic photographic mural unfolds like a filmstrip — desert terrain stretching into the distance, a water bottle appearing at the journey’s end. Rows of water bottles capped in gold and porcelain children’s shoes speak to scarcity, commodification, and the growing instability of global freshwater systems. The work asks how we care for water — and what we pass on to those who come after.
Water: CodeBlue: Thirsty Nest #1 (2023) — Full View/Front, 12¾(h) x 24(w) x 15(d) — Glazed porcelain, metal, wood
WATER: CODEBLUE
THIRSTY NEST SERIES
Porcelain cups and saucers — forms drawn from the global ritual of tea — become nesting grounds, perches, and precarious habitats for black and white warblers and chickadees navigating a world of sealed bottles and spilled water. In one work a bird collides with a cup and rides its saucer into open space — a moment of accidental grace in a landscape quietly running out of water. Together they hold a quiet argument — that what nourishes us and what sustains wildlife were never meant to be separate questions.
Commodification; Water: CodeBlue Tile Series (2017) – (full view triptych) – 16(h) x 36 1/4(w) x 1/2(d) – Photographic china paint, decal on porcelain tile
The Water: Code Blue tile series emerges from research into global water conservation strategies. Travel in the southwestern United States, Israel, and Ireland provided opportunities to photograph landscapes and speak with water scientists working with desalination, filtration, and resource management systems. These encounters revealed how geography, economics, and available infrastructure shape the ways communities respond to diminishing water supplies
The project reflects a growing global crisis. Fresh water represents only a small fraction of the planet’s total water resources, yet it sustains human life, ecosystems, and agriculture. As climate change, industrial use, and population growth intensify pressure on aquifers, rivers, and lakes, access to potable water is increasingly uneven across regions and populations..
WATER: CODEBLUE
TILE SERIES
The tile series translates this research into visual narrative. Photographs taken during field investigations are digitally constructed into sumbolic landscades that imagine environments shaped by the presence or absence of water. These images are transferred as full-color china paint decals and fired onto porcelain tiles. Often arranged as diptychs, and triptychs the tiles juxtapose images that suggest environmental transformation: landscapes before and after desertification, spaces inhabited or abandoned, and subtle traces of human presence within altered terrain. Through these paired images, the work invites reflection on water as both a shared global resource and a fragile foundation for life.
Water: CodeBlue: Threshold (2018) – 38 3/4(h) × 40(w), ink jet print on fine art paper
WATER: CODEBLUE
PHOTOGRAPHY
This series explores water as a vital and fragile resource through landscapes from around the world and close to home. Three images from Israel reflect water’s presence and the care it demands, while five desert panoramas convey the stark realities of arid lands. A wetland on the Florida property where I live highlights natural filtration and the local ecosystem’s resilience. Together, these photographs invite reflection on conservation, scarcity, and our connection to water.
