Riparian Zone #2
The path of this project has been as circuitous
as rivers themselves. My inspiration is directly related to my interest in
waterways professionally and personally. The project grew out of a love of paddling
the many urban waterways in the Midwest in my canoe “The Leaky Cauldron”. As a
visiting artist for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Chicago, I
had the opportunity to learn about the importance of managing water in a dense
urban area.
The biologically distinctive area that borders rivers, streams and creeks,
the Riparian Zone, acts as a protective buffer between land and water. Large undisturbed Riparian zones filter our
water, mitigate flooding and provide protection for the diverse life forms that
live in, on and near our waterways. “Riparian Zone” celebrates this natural
zone and expresses the pressure urban development places on these fragile
pieces of land.
Using embroidery, dense areas of beading, pieced textile and frayed linen,
I am using materials that express how the riparian zones in urban areas have
been so over developed that they can no longer do the job of protecting the
waterway and mitigating flooding.
Riparian Zone # 1
Riparian Zone #3
