This installation was created by students in Art for a Changing World: Studies in Environmental Art, a course taught by Karen Beall as the Humanities component of the Connective Experience, “Web of Life.” The students worked with Dr. Rebecca Urban (who taught the Natural Science component) to identify the various tree species on campus and in the Wood Thrush Wildlife Preserve.

Using prints from live specimens in conjunction with line drawings (a technique called sgraffito), students decided how to divide the tiles to incorporate the five different identification markers: the botanical name of the tree; the bark; flower; seed pod; leaf bud; and leaf.

Students deciding how to divide the tiles to incorporate the five different identification markers: the botanical name of the tree; the bark; flower; seed pod; leaf bud; and leaf.

Ceramic installation created for the foyer of the Gladys Fencil Art Building on the campus of Lebanon Valley College. Each of the eleven students in ART 220: Ceramics Studio: The Figure class created six self-portrait heads in 3 different clay bodies. I designed and installed the piece.

The students: Zandro Pete Calderon, Esmay Davenport, Heidi Deitz, Sarah Grow, Kelsie Habertroh, Erin Kingham, Victoria Lahey, Desiree Ruiz, Carly Rutter, Daniel Thompson, Kyle West

In celebration of Earth Day, this art installation of hand-painted paper monarch butterflies flutters in the breeze. As they endure the wind, rain, and sun they will gradually lose their color and become lifeless as a symbol of the butterflies’ current plight.

This installation was created to bring awareness of the decline of monarch populations and the need to maintain natural habitats of the monarchs and other pollinators. The decline happened as farmers and homeowners sprayed herbicides on milkweed plants, which serve as the butterflies’ nursery, food source, and home. Other factors have also contributed to the rapid devastation, such as deforestation and severe weather in their winter home in central Mexico.

The installation after enduring the rain, wind and sun.

Recycled plastic lids and steel

This temporary installation was created for Earth Day 2016 to bring awareness to the harmful effects of plastic on our planet. It was installed on the academic quad of Lebanon Valley College, Annville, PA.

Certain mushroom species grow in circular patterns in open grassy places. In ancient folklore it was believed that mushrooms grew where fairies had once danced. In reality these types of mushrooms are predators. As the ring gets larger and spreads outward more mushrooms appear. Their hidden roots—the mycelium—consume nutrients from the soil thus starving the grass. This simulated fairy ring has a similar agenda. Because it was created using discarded plastic lids it will eventually break down into tiny micro-plastic that include various chemicals leaving a trail of destruction in the soil and the surrounding water.

Plastic water bottles, staples, monofilament - Dimensions variable

Temporary installation created with my Fall 2015 Sculpture I students in the Lynch Memorial Hall atrium, Lebanon Valley College, Annville, PA.

Conceived for Earth Day, the symbolic “ocean” was constructed of plastic bottles collected from campus over the course of the semester. The installation was to bring awareness and attention to the abundance of plastic that potentially ends up in large, swirling gyres in the ocean.

Ceramic and steel, 11' x 5' x 5'

Public Art Commission, Lebanon Valley College, Allan W. Mund College Center, Annville, PA

Patinaed bronze, 95 x 124 x 16 inches

Public Art Commission Concourse E, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport, City of Atlanta, Atlanta, GA. (budget: $26,000)