Fragments

Start date: Friday, January 4, 2008
Event is ongoing: Until Wednesday, January 30, 2008

For a decade, I have seen these sunsets on my frequent walks around the lake on trails, and this is where I have known the birds and found their feathers. The sunsets are about the passing of time, and being caught in the temporal world. The feather and bird symbols represent transcendence.

Several years ago I became interested in the impact of global warming. The possibility of the impending loss of places like Glacier National Park in Montana, one of my frequent summer haunts, inspired me to look more closely at Nature.

I began to focus on “fragments” of the natural world around me, increasing my awareness of small visual moments. These fragments are from observations of Nature close to home and on my travels.

My concern with environmental issues is an undercurrent in this recent work, considering, among other things, air quality and its influence on the colors of the sky. The appearance of our sky is influenced not only by events here, but also far away, reminding us of how we are interwoven with everything on our planet.

“Why should anyone believe an artist who inveighs against the way the environment is treated yet whose own work gives ashes instead of beauty?" Arthur C. Danto, "Beauty to Ashes" Regarding Beauty: A View of Late Twentienth Century Art, by Neal Benezra and Olga M. Viso

Melodee Martin Ramirez January 2008

Information from the center's site