Northern Purple Red Gulf of Maine Sea Anemone Encaustic Sculpture

Inquire about this piece on Commission

See video of this sculpture installed on my Instagram post

I am excited to present my interpretation of a Maine coast Northern Purple-Red Sea Anemone in encaustic beeswax and pastel pigment on birch base. Inspired by a newly discovered cold-water sea anemone off the coast of Maine in 2014 that kicked off a controversy with Maine coast lobster fishermen and concern over their lobster traps on the bottom of the shallow ocean floor. I was inspired by the anemones’ beauty, a vast array of colors from yellow to orange, red, pink, and pastel purples. And was intrigued about their location in northern colder ocean waters 25 miles off the coast, not a typical place where sea anemones are found. I was on the coast of Maine at art residencies in 2015 at Golden Apple in Harrington and in 2017 at Acadia National Park’s Schoodic Science Institute, where I saw many anemones in tide pools while exploring the rocky coast. This type of “Red” sea anemone is found at the outer Schoodic ridge.

View for yourself at NOAA recording of shallow floor bed video.

Read the article (with map) about how NOAA issued a rule to keep bottom-trawling fishing gear out of these areas that are now protected waters. I believe that both can exist to support fishermen in their jobs and at the same time protect the precocious animals and to keep the interdependent ecosystem thriving.