School

2024

Ceramic, underglaze, glaze, plaster, acrylic paint, netting, fishing line, fish hooks, faux fish hooks, found plastics, beach debris, sea shells, giant kelp

My work bridges multiple mediums – ceramic, plaster, acrylic paint, and found objects – and explores themes of environmental stewardship and the narratives that shape our relationship with the natural world. This senior thesis installation focuses on the ocean, featuring a fishing net filled with cast plaster and hand-sculpted ceramic fish, prompting questions surrounding human impact and relationship to conservation. The installation draws from oceanic imagery, from vibrant kelp forests and fragile tidepools to the unsettling realities of overfishing, ocean acidification, rising sea temperatures, invasive species, and pollution. Found objects, such as discarded plastics and natural debris, are woven into the piece to reflect the cycles of consumption and waste that threaten marine life. By casting plaster and ceramic versions of California’s most fished seafood, I hope to captivate an impressive and uncanny instillation that highlights the fish’s beauty shadowed by the death of the fishing net.