Meteobotany

This series pairs drawings of cloud systems with embroidered plant life, in particular, lichens. Iterations go from digital satellite images, to drawing done by hand on a digital surface, then commercially printed onto fabric, and finally embroidered by hand. I explore contrasts of technologies and materials, and points of view. Satellites give a “god’s eye” view, while I have been drawing lichen specimens through a microscope (thanks to the Beaty Biodiversity Museum). I want them to appear to grow between the cloud systems. Through combining macro and micro viewpoints, I hope to convey my sense of the northwest coast as an intricate and intertwined life form. Lichens represent a symbiotic relationship between fungi and algae (and more organisms, as research is finding). By pairing imagery of lichens with grand weather systems, I hope to show a greater symbiosis.

Communities

Lichens tend to co-habit, often with mosses, on various substrates. I have featured lichens on wood and stone. The cloud systems are my digital drawings from satellite feeds summer of 2024 which include the hazy pink smoke of wildfires.