Our Water Stories: A Celebration of Door County's Relationship to Water.
“Declining freshwater mussels”
Wendy Carpenter
Freshwater mussels are one of the most endangered groups of animals in North America.
My hand weaved acrylic paintings depict the declining journey for the native mussel “Unionid. The native mussels and clams of Lake Michigan are of particular interest to me because of their unique life history, importance to aquatic ecosystems, and use as indicators of change in water and habitat quality.
My mixed media (acrylics and fiber) work is painted on canvas, cut into strips, and hand weaved with an inlay pattern. The woven painting was cut again and then mount in six shadow box frames.
My work "Declining freshwater mussels" is my personal interpretation in an expressionist style. My goal is to capture the emotion and power of nature through abstracting the natural world.
May the arts bring forth awareness of how special our Great Lakes are and the importance to preserve the aquatic ecosystem!
Biographical information:
The Contemporary fine art of fiber wall sculptures by Wendy Carpenter reveal her personal expressionism style derived form borderline abstract/literal interpretations. She specializes in dimensional fiber art for the wall commission work.
Her collaborative mission work in Guatemala consists of hand weaved jackets and a jewelry collection created with hand cut and polished lapidary work using Door County and Geodes Jadeite rocks of Guatemala.