“Always the edge of the sea remains an elusive and indefinable boundary… Only the most hardy and adaptable can survive in a region so mutable.” 

Rachel Carson, The Edge of the Sea. 

 

The shore is a fascinating place and so are the creatures that live and thrive there. Shore/Lines is a selection of collages and sculptures inspired by my research into my grandfather Gilberto Rodriguez’s work as a botanist and marine biologist, as well as my fascination with the work of Rachel Carson. I moved away from realistic representations of specimens and towards a simplified and abstracted vision of shoreline habitats and creatures. In these collages I focused on shape, line, and color and how they can show both the beauty and erosion of shore landscapes. Some works are plant, or animal-like. Others are about color, more specifically about the use of white on white. The eroded quality in some works is indicative of the vulnerability of shore life and this informed my use of discarded materials.