Dharma Strasser MacColl | Map of Variations: Artist Reception | Thursday, April 2nd, 5-7 pm

"My practice centers on drawing and painting in three dimensions. Through ceramics, paper, thread, and paint, I explore how materials can assume new identities. Paper is cut, pieced, and sewn like fabric, transforming the picture plane into a constructed surface. Porcelain becomes pigment, dyed and layered like paint, while thread extends drawing into space, and clay accumulates in small gestures that echo brushstrokes. In this way, each medium borrows the language of another, creating a hybrid visual field between painting, textile, and sculpture.

In Map of Variations, I use satellite imagery of tidal patterns to map shifting boundaries revealed by rising sea levels. Walking the Northern California coastline year-round, I experience the push and pull of tides, light, and the increasing force of winter king tides. Each ceramic chain installation-composed of hundreds of hand-formed and pigmented links-speaks to both the strength and interdependence of communities, and to the shared path we will inevitably walk as the coastline continues to transform. Throughout history, humans have sought meaning in nature by recognizing and mimicking pattern. My practice continues this impulse: by layering color, pattern, and form, I create works in conversation with the intertwined visual languages of our built and natural environments."

- Dharma Strasser MacColl