This is my painting  Erosion that I did both for my environmental series, and for the St. Cloud Paramount ‘s “Planet Earth” juried art show. This painting was picked for this show by a juror who is a potter, or ceramic artist, and I’m not sure what to think of that. I know at least one other artist who believes that 3D artists should not be judging 2D work. As a 2D artist, I know I could not honestly juror 3D art and feel fully qualified, because it would not be the type of art of my choice. But I can’t complain about this particular juror because he liked my painting.

This is a 24″ x 26″ painting done in acrylic on canvas.

Here is the statement that I submitted with this painting:

I’m concerned about the earth’s environment, pollution and climate change.  I worry about the human contribution to climate change and especially our inability to solve the problem (so far).  The source for “Erosion” is a photo I took in the Badlands of South Dakota. The eroded land represents a place out of balance, eroded beyond usefulness due to drought. Two people are dancing, oblivious to their environment. This painting is also about extinction, as the rhino watching the people represents the Western Black Rhino which was just recently declared extinct, an extinction caused by both climate change and poachers.  I can’t help but wonder if extinction may be the fate of people some day too, if we don’t change how we do things.

I’m a painter who lives in St. Cloud. I’ve been painting since I was a kid, and I studied fine art at the University of Minnesota at Moorhead. Until recently I wrote about climate change and the environment on my own blog. I decided last summer to paint about these issues instead.