APRIL SURGENT

“My artwork is directed by my interest in the natural world, the beauty of life and all things living. It is inspired by our connection to place and the interconnected complex of all ecosystems. While urbanization gradually disengages us from the natural world, my work aims to cultivate and foster the environmental consciousness by recording and documenting what I learn from nature.

Through the amalgamation of art and science I seek to understand how we are effecting the environment to learn what we can do to create positive impact. Observation, conservation science and in-depth research inform my work discussing the urgency of climate change and the call to action.

In an era when the world is experiencing immeasurable transformation, an engraving in glass becomes an archival record. In a time when our histories are stored in clouds, an engraving in glass takes a passing moment and saves it as a tangible object. When organic life is expected to move at a digital pace, the very act of engraving becomes a performance.

I am a keeper of our times and a keeper of a dying heritage. And in this slow and meticulous craft, I am reminded that though the hyper speed of the 21st century may disagree, it is OK to Stop. Look. See. Listen. Smell. Touch. Breathe. Think. Learn. To be lost in a world of beautiful ideas.”