Endangered Landscapes, is a series of new paintings, prints and works on

paper that were produced from a number of aerial photographs taken of the

southeastern Louisiana coastline.

During the summer of 2007, I traveled and resided in Louisiana with the

research support from the University of Minnesota. While in residence I was

able to research and educate myself on the growing problem of coastal

erosion and wetland loss that is affecting Louisiana. Louisiana’s coastline is

currently disappearing at a rate of 10.3 sq miles a year. Between 1990 and

2000, wetland loss was 24 square miles per year, which was equivalent to

one football field lost every 38 minutes. (Barras et al. 2003).

My fieldwork encompassed viewing these at risk areas of land, wetlands

and coast from a number of different perspectives and documenting them

through digital photographs and sketchbook drawings. I found that the

images that were taken from the air surveys to be the most compelling. From

the air I could fully comprehend the vast scale of the problem. It also

influenced the direction of my artwork by allowing me to see the delicate

relationship between land and water and the areas that function in between.

These experiences gave me an understanding of coastal wetland lost and

it’s implications of the environment and the unique culture that makes up

southern Louisiana.

My studio work followed for a short period in Lafayette, La then continued in

Minneapolis, MN through a research fellowship with the Institute for

Advance Study, at the University of Minnesota. It was through my daily

commute to my studio that I would cross the Mississippi and meditate on the

aerial images I took during the summer and the problems that face the

southern region of Louisiana.

In the studio I would work from the digital photographs, which served as a

catalyst for each painting. At some point in my process I would take the

painting past the original photograph through the loose application of paint.

Through my painting process I would create land then take it away through

the application of water. It became a visual relationship between land and

water as positive and negative space. I also continued to take creative

liberties in the palette used in each painting.

I see Endangered Landscapes, as a body of work that will create

environmental awareness to Louisiana’s coastal erosion problem. My main

goal is to educate the viewer on the vulnerability of the land that surrounds

Louisiana. It is my intention that the viewer connects with this aspect of this

new body of work.