BEACH HOUSE #1

Description

Beach House #1 is the first work in a three piece series that translates the feeling of standing at the edge of the water into a contemporary abstract. It sits on a concave curved cradled board, like water drawing back before it rises, and the next two pieces in the series will arc outward so the trio reads together as gently rolling waves. From a distance, the grid feels like a calm field of turquoise and sea glass blues. Up close, it carries the feelings of summers at the lake, weathered beach houses, old maps, and homemade quilts.

Seventeen invasive grass carp were transformed into thin leather, cut into small squares, and painted with an airbrush. Each square received three passes of color, one from straight on, a darker pass from the left, and a lighter pass from the right. That simple shift in angle exaggerates the natural structure of the pockets in the leather where the scales once were. So the surface takes on the look of ripples, currents, and wind moving across water. Light pearlescent pigments sit on the highest points of the leather, so the piece shimmers gently as you walk past it. The squares are mounted over a deep dark grey cradle that feels like deep water in shadow, and are anchored with tiny brass tacks that echo map pins or quilt knots. Some squares are hand sewn from smaller pieces of leather using a baseball stitch that mirrors the texture of the scale pockets.

Although the colors originate from a single photograph of Lake Erie, no two squares are identical. I chose Lake Erie because it is the Great Lake closest to where I grew up, and because so much effort is going into keeping invasive carp out of its waters. Some squares hold more dramatic texture, like rough water on a windy day. Others are smoother, like a still stretch of lake at dusk. The color shifts from one square to the next, the way water and memory both shift with every change of light. The work turns that process into a physical object, a wall of small, shifting remembrances that resolve into calm when you step back.

These 17 grass carp skins were all physically removed from the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers near Kentucky. Invasive carp threaten the Mississippi River system, an ecological and economic lifeline that supports roughly 1.5 million jobs and a five hundred billion dollar regional economy. By transforming these fish into art, the material itself becomes part of the solution, supporting demand for removal and redirecting an ecological problem into something protective and enduring.

includeS:

• Signed and dated original artwork

• Certificate of authenticity

• Materials and impact card

• Complimentary digital wall mockup

• 48-hour courtesy hold available on request

• Two-payment option over 30 days