A River of inspiration from TRIBUTARY II artists
- Jennifer Gillia Cutshall
- 2 days ago
- 5 min read
"TRIBUTARY II: Flow from Humanity" has flooded Verum with expansive and expressive interpretations of the theme. From large dark paintings to miniature photographs of sea foam and beyond. We move through this collection with the tides and these artists tell stories of the water and the land (and the marks that nature has on their work) ...
“In 2024, I received a grant to witness Great Alaskan migrations - part of this brought me to the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for a week. Crossing the Brooks Range and backpacking through areas of our world untouched by humans was inspiring. This land was untouched by the concept of time. Caribou and their primordial migration, intertwined with the constantly swelling braided rivers, it felt unworldly. “Rivers of Time” looks to explore the ethereal landscape, unspoiled by humans, to hopefully inspire you to visit and protect these sacred spaces."
Trevor Campbell
KENDRA ROBERTS
"Growing up, our access to free-flowing water was slim, although the creek near our house was often “stomped” in search of crawdads, tadpoles, and other watery creatures. As an adult, I’ve traveled and experienced water from Alaska to Iceland, Mexico to Maui, where I’ve jumped, splashed, floated, snorkeled, swam, kayaked and waded through many free-flowing bodies of water. This is where I find inspiration for my work and a profound sense of centered-ness."
Kendra Roberts
RIO WRENN
"As life flows we incorporate every experience into our collective consciousness. These collections are what give us integrity and can heal or advise our self and community. I am inspired by nature and seek to translate the earth into something that gives glimpses of hope and strength. With each piece I compose a spiritual poem to open our eyes in ways that cannot be seen in plain sight. By allowing a flow to connect one thing to the next there is growth and abundance.
Rio Wrenn
ANGELA GUNNOE
"I am inspired by the mysteries of life. The photographic image can surprise and delight in its ability to perceive something deeply felt. The landscape, when seen as a space for contemplation, connects the inner experience of the viewer to the outer experience of the natural world. In these photographs, the landscape is seen as metaphor for the soul’s journey, a record of dialogue with Self, Nature, and Spirit."
Angela Gunnoe
DONNA STEVENS
Aglow in Autumn II
"In far northern latitudes, rivers are impressively large and still seem wild. Feeding one of those rivers are thousands of streams, varying in volume, meandering along. The autumn trickles will soon freeze, sleeping until spring finally arrives. It will first drip, then awaken. In the brief span of summer, it will grow to a rush, and its voice may roar. Finally becoming a quiet stream again, it readies for another winter."
Donna Stevens
DARIA LOI
"Looking Within" is part of a series that includes two more pieces, titled "Looking Up" and "Looking Down". This trio is a reflection on water flow from 3 different points of view.
As I look at water in my property's creek, it gently flows, revealing underwater algae...
As I imagine life inside my property's creek, I see water flowing and the sky above me, filtered through the water...
As I reflect at the dual nature of my property's creek, I notice the sun - shimmering on the water and inside if me."
Daria Loi
EARL GRENVILLE KILLEEN
I was a puddle and felt sufficient unto myself
Had I remained a puddle I would have dried up
Little streams reached my edges and over time
I received their trickle, and then their flow
and learned that a tributary seeks receptivity,
surprising the puddle with its inflow
Now I'm awed by the tributaries' gift of abundance
I find my edges lapping the edges of other puddles,
all filling to the point of overflowing
in little streams that offer themselves to rivers
Earl Grenville Killeen
LAUREN JOHNSON
"My photographic series, of which this image is a part, combines elements of scientific processes in nature with humanity’s connection in the ecosystem, touching on how we are not so separate from one another but rather a single continuous organism working coherently through all of time and space. I am water just as much as I am human. The creation of the image itself also combines the physical with digital, starting with being in nature to photograph the image, then painting the watercolor graphic, and overlaying them both digitally. From photographing self-portraits in the dark ocean waters, to painting the water molecules with water itself, it’s a slow and meditative flow where the finished result is simply a small part of the continuous cycle."
Lauren Johnson
NANCY HELMSWORTH
"We found water at Killen Creek.
Killen Creek is in the Mt Adams wilderness area, yet another site of accessible nature in the Pacific Northwest. The summer was hot, there was a drought, but with advice from other campers my daughter and I found a beautiful, spongy lush water supply - persistently flowing. Water flows - whether here or there - a creek in South America makes the same sounds as the creek in Washington state. Amazing - I find that comforting and so precious at the same time."
Nancy Helmsworth
KAREN RUSSO
Grandmother, I hear you
with a whisper and a roar, she tells her stories
Fluid Shapeshifter moving with grace and wisdom
through pathways gentle and raging, caressing and eroding
She is a tributary merging and flowing towards infinite love
"I spend time outdoors observing and interacting with an ever-changing landscape. My art is a confluence of the Feminine and Nature. I allow my sculptures to evolve intuitively, unfolding and revealing Herself through carving and painting."
Karen Russo
ROBIN KERR
"We love canoeing on the river. I particularly like canoeing along the tributaries, because you can dawdle. You are usually there on your own. Seldom do you see any power boats. It is quiet except for the sounds of the birds or the splashes of the invisible creatures jumping in for a float. The water smells a bit musty and is quite often dark brown, almost black, because the trees are shading the water from both sides. Sometimes they lead to lakes, and you will come across something wonderful like a huge flock of pelicans. Sometimes you have to turn-around and go back because you came to a dead-end or it’s too shallow, or there are too many fallen trees across the way. So you do, and that’s okay because there is another tributary a little further along."
Robin Kerr
JENN JOSLIN
"After the loss of the passenger pigeon, the ecology of oak tree species in the eastern United States shifted dramatically. it was only after the extinction of these birds that the complex relationship they had with their environment was examined, and by then it was too late--the last pigeon had died in captivity, all alone.
How much more of our world do we need to break to finally understand that this culture's ignorance toward the environment has far-reaching impacts, many of which are impossible to predict?
But the acorns remember the deep connections that flow through all of life, forever binding us as one."
Jenn Joslin
