Nan's New Still Lives Exhibited in "Dreams of our Fathers"; FAU's Ritter Gallery

I have been working on intimate still lives for more than a year. Focused on conservation themes, my sculptures address the varied environmental impacts to water and food resources. My project, the Water: CodeBlue – Thirsty Nest Series, is a call for water conservation. Vital to all living things, water is managed by humankind, yet it is a shared resource needed by plant and animal species. The Thirsty Nest Series employs a personal setting to indicate human stewardship of this most essential natural resource. The artwork takes form as intimate, porcelain server sets based loosely on English tea ware. My choice of porcelain clay is based on its historical associations of rarity, high value, and alchemy (a seemingly magical power or process of transmuting). Patterned in black and white, the elements within each composition seek to balance light and dark contrast to indicate the dichotomy in current culture concerning conservation issues. In my sculpture; cups, bowls, platters are symbols of human presence. Their placement within each still life indicates human intervention. The sculpted black and white Warbler and Chicadee are symbols of wildlife. The Warbler defined as “singing in a quavering voice” is a bird clothed in a beautiful black and white pattern created by Mother Nature. Also patterned in black and white, the black capped Chickadee is a bird that is considered brave since they will interact with humans and even learn to eat from a human hand. I use ceramic replicas of water bottles capped with gold as a symbol of the commodification of water. Water spills appear as blue pools in concentric rings. The birds play within the still lifes, for instance, sitting in nests on top of inverted water bottles, in pools drinking, or crashing a tea party. Water bottles spill water with no apparent human presence. Through implied narrative I question whether water will be available to wildlife. It seems to me that birds do their job in the ecosystem. I wonder whether we will do ours?