Paradigm Shift II: Water

The climate is changing. In fact, it has been changing for quite some time. In the slow, nearly undetectable way of a moving glacier this shift has finally become noticeable. The scope is enormous, it feels terrifying and the problem is vastly complex. We humans have been so successful that we are threatening our very own existence. Our basic needs are water, air, food, shelter, energy. All of these are under threat from climate change. We have grown beyond our resources as we know them. We are facing mass extinctions of plant and animal species and epidemics of disease and blight. But with all this before us, I think water may be the greatest challenge of all. If you think about it, everything depends on clean water. We must have water to drink or we will quickly die. Without it we don't have food and the plants cannot create adequate oxygen for the planet. The perfect ecologic system of the the plant and animal kingdom will not work because all life depends on water. Here in the west, water resources have been fought over for hundreds, perhaps even thousands of years. Water and the lack thereof has always been an inescapable issue, but now it has become a global challenge. Climate change is forcing us into an entire new way of thinking about our resources and land use. Wetlands and rivers have been a focus in my work for quite some time, but lately I have been taking an even closer look at our relationship with our water resources. I give voice to the organisms that depend on pristine wetlands and explore the threats to these habitats.

The first painting is called Real Estate.The second painting is called Chance Encounter. Here I consider the inextricable connection we have to all life. And the final painting of this set is called Going To The Well. This piece shows the aquatic threatened Oregon spotted frog that formerly lived in most of the pacific northwest. It is now lost to California and Oregon's Willamette Valley. Small populations remain in designated critical habitat in the remote upper reaches of some mountain rivers.