NJ Endemics

I created this piece as both a meditation on the beauty of the natural world and a warning of nature’s vulnerability to human impact. I am fascinated by the way organic, natural forms draw people in. It seems primal, evolutionary. The spiraling form of driftwood roots and shadows pulls you across the room. Upon closer inspection, the glass reveals itself—a glistening surprise. Then, it confronts you with the fragility of the forms—the fear they may break at the slightest bump or breath. That feeling reflects the precarious reality of these endangered botanicals which exist nowhere else on Earth but the southern coastal areas of our state. If climate change is not mitigated, they will become ghosts.
The clear glass botanicals emanating from the wood (foraged from Island Beach State Park) are New Jersey’s three endemic plants: Bog Asphodel, Knieskern’s Beaked-Rush, and New Jersey Dewberry.