featured artist Enid Smith Becker Bellevue, WA Enid Smith Becker lives and works in the Seattle area. Inspired by the complex dynamic between humans and the surrounding world, her paintings remind us of how our interactions with nature can transform ourselves and the land. Enid studied art at the University of Washington and has taught art in secondary school. Her paintings are in numerous collections around the US and abroad. In her work for this show, Enid presents a fluid, multifaceted experience that mirrors our own interactions with place and time as we frame our experiences through the screen of a mobile device. The sharp edges of the planes within the painting represent the human influence on the land. The layering of multiple perspectives invites the viewer to see the world through shifting lenses of time, scale, and space. The work is painted in acrylic on canvas. featured artwork "Witness" acrylic on canvas, 30in x 48in, created in response to the Maple fire that burned on the Olympic peninsula in 2018 responding to Ground Truths Witness was created in response to the Maple fire that burned on the Olympic peninsula in 2018. This is a painting of contrasts- the contrast of the organic of the old growth forest and the sharp cut edges of the windows of fire (representing the human impact), the contrast of the cool green of the woods and the hot orange of the fire. If ground truthing establishes the veracity of a map, I see my painting as a verification of reality -a kind of map that asserts the veracity of climate change. Like all my paintings, there is an intentional beauty in the depiction of the natural space in order to draw the viewer in. But the beauty of the old growth forest is broken by the windows of fire. A reminder of what has happened and what will happen if we don't work to protect our natural world. The painting presents a kind of ground truthing for the future- both a warning and an admonition. As a native Washingtonian almost all of my paintings are inspired by the pacific northwest. It's a place I know well and love. I spend a lot of time outdoors. The places I explore and the photos I take are the starting point for my paintings. Within each painting the windows I create tell a story about the place be it a change of season, a new perspective or an event such as a wildfire. more from Enid's perspective Salish Tides, acrylic on canvas, 48in x 72in The Salish Sea, Hood Canal, is a place Enid often goes. Her one room cabin is surrounded by old growth forest. The beach view is the one you see here. It was also from this perspective that Enid watched the Maple fire burn on the Olympic peninsula in 2018, inspiring the painting, Witness. Spring Stream, acrylic on canvas, 24in x 48in This work is inspired by an area that Enid hikes through, just east of Seattle. As is often the case in Enid’s paintings, the sharp edges of the frames within the image represent the human view and action upon the land. Winter Woods , acrylic on canvas, 48in x 72in Enid painted this work a year ago, inspired by a winter storm and how snow drains color from the land it covers. The trunks of the Douglas firs are brown and their branches are dark green, but the effect is one of a black and white landscape. Brighter Haze , acrylic on canvas, 30in x 40in This painting was inspired by the song “Brighter Haze,” written by Enid’s friend, the singer songwriter Kristin Chambers. Chambers wrote it while watching the color of the sky change during a forest fire. Chat back to exhibition Chat

featured artist Katie Kehoe Tallahassee, FL Katie Kehoe is a multidisciplinary artist who creates survival architecture, objects and wearables which are used in performances and site-specific installations. Her work is designed to engage the public to reflect on changing climate and sustainability and has been presented across the US and Canada, including The Hirshhorn Museum (Washington, DC), The Contemporary Museum (Baltimore, MD), Center for Maine Contemporary Art (Rockland, ME), RedLine Contemporary (Denver, CO), Emerge Art Fair (Washington, DC), Arlington Arts Center’s Inaugural Regional Biennial (Arlington, VA), SummerWorks Festival – LiveArt Series (Toronto, ON) . She has had solo shows at VisArts (Rockville, MD) and Type Books Gallery (Toronto, CAN) and is a member of the Atlantika Collective and Cultivate Projects artist collectives. As an artist, Katie values cross-disciplinary collaboration and recently worked with Dr. Jagadish Shukla, one of the nation’s leading climate scientists, to create Breaching Waterways with Provisions Research Center for Arts and Social Change for CALL/Walks. Katie was raised in Cape Breton, Canada, completed an MFA from the Mount Royal School of Art at the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore, Maryland, and is currently based in Tallahassee, Florida, where she is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Art at Florida State University. featured artwork "Wildfire Shelters for Small Animals" 35.66754°N, 105.43550°W, Santa Fe National Forest, NM, photographic documentation of site-specific installation, 2023 responding to SIGHTLINES Climate change and extreme weather have been the subject of my work since 2016 and for the past two years, I’ve been specifically addressing the increased instances and intensity of wildfires resulting from climate change. During an artist residency at the Santa Fe Art Institute, I created a series of wildfire shelters inspired by New Mexico’s largest recorded wildfire: the 2022 Calf Canyon and Hermit's Peak fires merged to burn over 340,000 acres east of Santa Fe. After creating the shelters, I installed them in areas where the fire burned and documented them with digital photography. I think of the wildfire shelters I create as “survival architecture”: they have the appearance of providing protection from flame, heat, and smoke exposure, but are sculptural objects intended to be symbolic and engage the viewer to consider the implications of climate change. Are we approaching a time when it will be necessary to carry these sorts of lifesaving devices around with us from day to day? more from Katie's perspective Katie in Santa Fe National Forest, 35.65350N, 105.42818 W, when carrying out a temporary site-specific installation featuring three portable wildfire shelters she created. To locate installation sites, Katie drove in and out of dirt roads leading in and through Santa Fe National Forest where the Calf Canyon and Hermits Peak wildfire burned a year before. This map documents the area burned when the Calf Canyon and Hermits Peak fires merged to become the largest wildfire in New Mexico’s recorded history. My feet on the ground in Santa Fe National Forest. Chat back to exhibition Chat

All Posts Member Spotlight News Further Considerations Search Confluence Lab Sightlines "Just Futures" Confluence Lab Sightlines "When the Smoke Clears" Confluence Lab Sightlines "The Future is Patchy" Confluence Lab Fuel Loading "Feeling Fuel" Confluence Lab Loads and Ladders Confluence Lab Fuel Loading: "The Build Up, the Burn, and the Burn Out" Confluence Lab Afire at the Kenworthy Confluence Lab Ground Truths: "The Wound is an Opening" Confluence Lab Ground Truths: "Boots on the Ground" Confluence Lab Ground Truths: "Ubiquitous Fire" Confluence Lab Mapping Fire Recovery in Oregon's Rogue Valley Confluence Lab Dilshani Sarathchandra and Kristin Haltinner featured on Vandal Theory Podcast, Episode 5.2 Confluence Lab Teresa Cohn featured on Vandal Theory Podcast, Episode 3.3 Confluence Lab A Musical Score to Understand Wilderness Confluence Lab Lab Member Spotlight: Leah Hampton

There’s Nothing Here... We can’t find the page you’re looking for. Check the URL, or head back home. Go Home