Our Current Show

Marie Bundy Estabrook

I am a marine ecologist whose research career focused on understanding how an organism’s form and function ensures survival in aquatic ecosystems. My job with the federal government moved me out of the laboratory and away from the field, so I gravitated to the ceramic studio to keep my hands in the earth and in the water. Years on research vessels and time in the Antarctic deeply impressed upon me the enormity of the natural environment and the minuteness of humans, in all our vulnerability. I work in clay to create shapes that fit together in an organic fashion, which allows me to continue to communicate how landscapes can reflect ecosystem resilience and the vastness of the natural world. My inclusion of diminutive impressions of human structures and human activities will catch the eye, often the first thing noticed—and the last thing forgotten. We humans see ourselves as shapers of the land and masters of the sea. But no matter the scope of our tilling, plowing, and construction, the world remains enormous, while its resources are limited. Stepping back and reducing our footprint, human influences can start to vanish… and given time and stewardship, the scars will disappear.