It's ofishal

     I am so excited to reveal that I was one of the chosen artist to participate in Mayor Daniel J. Rickenmann's and The City of Columbia's (SC) Columbia Streams Art public art project. That's a mouthful! I also want to add my husband, Devon Corley, also was choosen to participate, so we had two leaping trout sculptures hanging out around the studio. 

     For my trout, I wanted to create a piece that was more of a call to action. The rivers of Columbia are such a huge part of our lives and ecosystem, but more often than not, when visiting there is always so much trash. When we plan fishing trips, we always bring a trash bag, it's that bad. Hanging lures and fishing lines, empty beer cans, broken bottles.Some are accidental littering and other times just carelessness. I wanted to take trash and create something beautiful. 

     So I grabbed my trash bag and headed out. Collecting cans, broken bottles, lost tackle, and little trinkets. I processed cans into scales, created designs with broken bottles, and text through old fridge magnets. I didn't source all the materials from the river. I collected broken dishes and ceramics (thanks to generous donations from the Mad Platter) and sourced some broken and unloved pieces from my own ceramic studio. 

     This was my first mosaic. There were moments I lost all faith in myself as a creator. I learned a lot exploring this medium and I couldn't be more proud with how it turned out. 

     In the end, I created a massive mosaic trout. A reminder to be conscious to our environment and where our garbage ends up. I wanted the piece to be simplistic from a distance but up close you can get lost amongst the trinkets. The phrases are simple but impactful reading, "Keep our rivers clean" and "Clean water starts with you".