Destruction of the Tillamook Rainforest series is intended to inform the public about the ecosystem of the Tillamook rainforest in Oregon. In the Tillamook region alone, 215 species face extinction due to logging, urban development, agriculture, industrial pollutants and over-fishing.
The first piece created for the Destruction of the Tillamook Rainforest series, is a brooch (Destruction of the Tillamook Rainforest no. 1) made with sterling silver, brass, steel, resin and flocking. At first glance it looks like a soft velvety flower surrounded by elegant pierced ferns but under further inspection the viewer recognizes teeth. It appears to be natural but is actually reconstructed. In the center of the brooch is a flower, I created by manipulating and reconfiguring a beaver jaw. The surface of the flower is covered in a vibrant blue flocking that appears as a mold-like substance.The bone is symbolic of the mountain beaver, whose population was devastated due to poachers, but is now federally protected. The male fern has a similar fate and is currently listed as a vulnerable species.
During the Glean Residency, I expanded on the Destruction of the Tillamook Rainforest series, by creating five wearable art and four wall sculptures. I gathered materials at the transfer station (dump) to conceptually connect to the destructive human impacts of Tillamook Rainforest. For instance, wood symbolizes logging practices, rockite cement for construction materials and old clothing for urban development, fishing rope and netting for overfishing and old tires to represent agriculture.
Materials were almost exclusively from the dump including, resin, copper pipes and electrical wires, aluminum signs, acrylic signs, wood, rockite cement, steel sheet, aluminum sheet, brass sheet, fishing net, mosquito net, tapestries, shirts, truck tires, wooden drawers, joint compound, spray paint, acrylic paint, indian inks, a plastic clipboard, a plastic file organizer, enamel paint and lacquer.
A majority of the imagery is directly representational, however several pieces are not. For instance, I carved a chum salmon fish tail in wax, made a mold, and sculpted a flower with multiple wax “fishtails.” The final flower forms were cast in resin from the hazardous waste facility.
I focused on 16 endangered flora and fauna from the Tillamook Rainforest including, the California floater mussels (mollusk), dusky tree vole (rodent), marbled murrelet (bird), Oregon silverspot butterfly (insect), North Western pond turtle (reptile), townsend’s big eared bat (bat), chum salmon (fish) and the Johnson's waterfall carabid beetle (insect), Thaxterogaster paelekii mycorrhizal (fungi), Nolanea edulis (fungi), Bryoria bicolor (lichen), Hedwigia stellata (moss), coast range fawn lily, Willamette valley larkspur, Western marsh rosemary and Bryoria pseudocapillaris (lichen).
Although there are only 16 species represented, it is my hope that it demonstrates the increasing human impacts of these precious fragile ecosystems worldwide. Clear-cut forests can be seen in satellite images. By destroying and eliminating the size and conditions of habitats, hundreds of species’ are experiencing a rapid decrease in population, some of which are listed as an endangered species.