Mixed Media Assemblage | 10 x 22 x 4 inches | Custom Framed
 
Staycation is a contemporary assemblage — a surreal encounter on a warming sea.
 
A startled polar bear, perched on a natural-quartz ice floe, faces an unlikely visitor: a temperate-water whelk inching north as oceans warm. The improbable standoff distills a clear ecological truth: climate change is reshaping even the most remote Arctic ecosystems.
 
The melting floe is built from irregular nuggets of natural quartz and edged with a custom necklace of off-white quartz beads, luminous freshwater pearls, and Murano glass encasing silver foil and coppery flecks. Together they float atop deep blue velvet, hand sewn to suggest the gentle yet relentless motion of waves.
 
Conceived after a walk along Assateague Island National Seashore, where warming waters have already altered marine life, the title wryly implies the bear can “vacation” in Caribbean-warm seas without leaving the Artic.
 
Blending sparkle, animals, humor, and mystery, Staycation invites intergenerational conversations about global warming, ocean change, and environmental stewardship. 
 
Materials: Natural quartz, freshwater pearls, Murano glass with silver foil, velvet, paper, wood, found shell, realistic polar bear model
 
Framing: Custom shadow box with museum glass in a deep black wooden frame, produced in collaboration with Chevy Chase Art Gallery, Washington, DC.