Watch your step
Artist in residence at acadia national park 2023
When I arrived in Acadia and began exploring, I was enamored by the incredibly lush and varied growth covering every bit of rock and earth. From the clouds and sprays of Reindeer Lichen that seemed to echo the sea foam crashing on the coast to the plush carpets of Haircap and Broom Forkmoss and even the flat, almost invisible shingled rock shield and cinder lichens that create new patterns in the granite through their density.
These lichens eat rock, creating sand in which moss can find its footing, the moss becomes a nursery for seedlings from blueberry bushes to pine trees. They are the beginning of the forest every Acadia visitor, including myself, falls in love with. What I noticed even more as I began to hike the trails was how the growth stopped at the trail edges, how you could see the paths people traveled most, both on and off the paths, by looking for the absence of layered lichens and mosses on the granite.
Watch Your Step is an ode to the forest builders, the soil creators, the tiny organisms underfoot who grow ecosystems from the ground up. It is a call to watch your step and stay on paths, they're there to allow us to enjoy the incredibly diverse and abundant ecosystem and to protect it.
wool, upcycled fibers, recycled wool, cotton, thread, wire, soy wax, beeswax, latex paint, tissue, beads
