Installation: Our Changing Seas

"Our Changing Seas III" by San Francisco-based Courtney Mattison

On exhibit at the Tang Museum at Skidmore College through June 15, 2014.
Photographed by Arthur Evans

These glazed stoneware and porcelain sculptures are intended to raise awareness about the endangered ecosystem and inspire more people to fight for conservation. The sprawling installation is entirely hand-built and is meant to show the devastating transition coral reefs endure when faced with climate change, a process called bleaching.  An interest in marine biology and environmental science has shaped her work, providing the inspiration and motivation to create handmade porcelain sculptures in a three-part series.

"At its heart, this piece celebrates my favorite aesthetic aspects of a healthy coral reef surrounded by the sterile white skeletons of bleached corals swirling like the rotating winds of a cyclone. There is still time for corals to recover even from the point of bleaching if we act quickly to decrease the threats we impose. Perhaps if my work can influence viewers to appreciate the fragile beauty of our endangered coral reef ecosystems, we will act more wholeheartedly to help them recover and even thrive."

An interest in marine biology and environmental science has greatly shaped her work, providing much of the inspiration and motivation to create handmade porcelain sculptures liker her three-part series
Read more at http://all-thats-interesting.tumblr.com/post/83922586449/courtney-mattisons-intricate-porcelain-coral-artwork#aZ8gdQGfozKHbs18.99