I feel like I should let you guys in on a little of what I do. I would consider myself an environmental activist in the form of art. No, I haven't been to Africa and protected a rhino's with my life, but I do create art that informs the viewer of the current problems that they may not know about. My goal is not to make art that the viewer has to think about a lot and make their own assumptions about like some artist's work. I make art that clearly states a problem that we are facing at this time in our lives. My hope is that the issue the work is addressing is a problem they may have never heard of, and inspire them to take a deeper look and research more about the topic.
Environmental concerns such as deforestation, coral bleaching, and climate change are all topics that I have focused my work around in the past year as well as the illegal wildlife trade. These are topics that I am highly passionate about and want to inform others of.
My current project is a six and a half foot sculpture that will consist of four coral "branches." These branches will be painted with a paint pigment that turns clear when heat is applied. Coral in nature will get stressed as water temperature rises which in turn causes the coral to expel all of the Algae living inside of it.  This is known as Coral Bleaching. There are several causes for coral bleaching, but the most common factor is a change in water temperature. This sculpture will be heated from the inside and as a result, the coral will lose its colorful paint and turn white as it would in nature. I will have fish that are colorful while the coral is cool, and as it heats, the fish will turn white as well and reveal a skeleton painted beneath to represent the death of the whole community. This sculpture is in the very beginning stages so I don't have any pictures to post, but below are a few pictures of recent work I have done that are all revolving around this environmental concept.

According to https://www.fws.gov/international/travel-and-trade/illegal-wildlife-trade.html Thousands of wildlife species are threatened by illegal and unsustainable wildlife trade. For example, in recent months significant media attention has gone to the plight of the world's rhinoceros species, which are facing increased poaching as demand for their horns increases in Asia. In some parts of Asia, rhino horn is considered to be a powerful traditional medicine, used to treat a variety of ailments. While there is little scientific evidence to support these claims, the dramatic rise in poaching to supply this demand is pushing rhinos toward the brink of extinction.

According to https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/coral_bleach.html Warmer water temperatures can result in coral bleaching. When water is too warm, corals will expel the algae (zooxanthellae) living in their tissues causing the coral to turn completely white. This is called coral bleaching. When a coral bleaches, it is not dead. Corals can survive a bleaching event, but they are under more stress and are subject to mortality.

In 2005, the U.S. lost half of its coral reefs in the Caribbean in one year due to a massive bleaching event. The warm waters centered around the northern Antilles near the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico expanded southward. Comparison of satellite data from the previous 20 years confirmed that thermal stress from the 2005 event was greater than the previous 20 years combined.

This piece has not been completed yet, and is still in the building process, but this pendant will be a visual of deforestation. The saw blade behind the trees is an instant indicator to the deforestation that is happening around the globe rapidly due to mass amounts of land development and agriculture.