Opening Reception, Book Signing: Christina Conklin, When We Were Ocean

Meet artist Christina Conklin at the opening reception for her solo exhibition, “When We Were Ocean,” at M Stark Gallery. Conklin will also be signing copies of her book, “The Atlas of Disappearing Places: Coasts and Oceans in a Time of Climate Change” (The New Press, 2021).

Christina Conklin’s method of infusing wet algae with inks and
pigments leaves a gorgeous, unpredictable mark on watercolor paper.
Compositions can be seen as documentation of elemental processes, magnified microscopic organisms and their worlds, polar landscapes, maps, and spirit animals.

Conklin thinks deeply about the Earth’s 4.5-billion-year-old recipe of
time and matter. She is awestruck by the profundity of the natural
world, created by chance chemical reaction. Her work persuades us to
slow down and think, and find a way through science and culture
change to minimize and heal our impact on the planet.
Like the British and U.S. land artists of the 60s and 70s, Conklin’s art
practice includes working in the field making marks directly on the
land and using raw materials of the earth in her studio work. Spiritual yearnings concerning the planet Earth as home to all life are felt in Conklin’s work as well.

Conklin is the co-author and illustrator of The Atlas of Disappearing
Places: Our Coasts and Oceans in a Time of Climate Change (The
New Press, 2021) using an ink-on-dried seaweed process. Conklin
received her B.A. cum laude in religious studies and studio art from
Middlebury College. She received her M.F.A. from California College
of the Arts where she focused on textiles and sculpture.

Conklin lives in Half Moon Bay and works in Pacifica, CA.