With my ardent exploration of the earth’s grandeur, I strive to inspire humankind to explore their surroundings and themselves through my work. Traverse the woods with me, drink in the petrichor, ground yourself on the mycelium rich soil, and embrace the energies within and around you.
Environmental artist, Katherine Watts, rarely focuses on one medium in particular. Employing various techniques, such as relief printmaking, photography, and found object sculpture, the overarching intention is to question and bring awareness to the relationship between the earth and the human race. Thus, the viewer's introspective questioning and outward exploration of this relationship can ensue by way of this work.
Watts' most recent work incorporates scavenged Ohio River bank refuse, which is then reclaimed into new works. While there is an innate, accompanied romanticism and beauty associated with these thoughtful discoveries, there is also a sense of urgency and awakening associated with them. A human response and awareness concerning the realities of pollution, our specie's impact on the earth, and the resulting global warming is both vital and necessary.
Instead of simply presenting such seemingly impossible realities, the implied Derridean approach to their practically irreducible complexity and instability might be better served by deconstructing these actualities; to attempt to discover the meanings within them. Watts' intention is to accomplish this, while retaining the sources of the conflicted relationship of abiding beauty and irreparable damage. The series, Mooring Line Deconstruction, bears witness to that inherent conflict.
Photo by: Tom Fougerrousse
“A river tugs at whatever is within reach, trying to set it afloat and carry it downstream… The river extends this power of drawing all things with it even to the imagination of those who live on its banks. Who can long watch the ceaseless lapsing of a river’s current without conceiving a desire to set himself adrift, and, like the driftwood which glides past, float with the stream clear to the final ocean?”