Water Preserves explores our complex and sometimes precarious relationship with water by visually and aurally examining its beauty, magic, terror, and poetry. The idea for the installation came to me about a year ago after reading Melanie Goodman’08’s blog that included this quote from Herman Melville’s Moby Dick:

"Call me Ishmael. Some years ago - never mind how long precisely - having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the circulation."

Initially I imagined glass canning jars of water (with labels detailing its sources) stacked like strawberry preserves in a corner cupboard. Being too literal, I decided to try projecting video recordings of water through the jars of water and onto the surrounding walls. I tested this in my living room and to my surprise, the sounds of birds, automobiles, and voices created an unexpected, prayerful ambience. I knew then that the installation would center around a transformation of the gallery space into a meditation room. Water Preserves debuted at the State of the Art Gallery in Ithaca in February, was reworked for the DMA Gallery at Alfred State College in April, and is now in a new form at the George Waters Gallery. By immersing the viewer in a space shaped by sound, light and image, my intent is create a moment for viewers to meditate about the power and fragility of water in our ecosystem, in our culture, and in our personal lives.