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BETH DARY

Bubbles of ancient CO2 captured in Arctic ice; mottled primordial landscapes
that, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, grew inside houses; fractal patterns
formed by the liquid contaminants in urban runoff -- these phenomena represent nature in transition due our culture's destabilization of the environment.

The formations that manifest at such sites inspire me, in part because I have
always lived at the water's edge, from my childhood on Cape Cod to adult life in
New Orleans and New York City. For instance, a series of kinetic sculptures and
wall drawings made of tiny black and white-headed pins borrow the patterns of
the lethal molds that emerged in homes in New Orleans after Katrina’s
floodwaters receded; a multi-channel video projected on to glass windows of a
service station captures the chemical turbulence on the surface of puddles on
the streets of New York, and an installation of over a thousand hand-built
porcelain sculptures represents marine barnacles that will increasingly occupy
coastal areas as our actions warm the globe and waters begin to rise.

Environments under stress are more than a thematic aspect of the work as the
materials themselves have transitional qualities and are subject to interactive
and evolutionary change. Ceramic sculptures are bisque-fired, without the final
firing that would render them impermeable, leaving them porous and vulnerable.
A series of blown glass “bubbles” installed in an outdoor urban lily pond take on
water and algae from the pond as they become a part of the landscape, and
reflect the world around them on their surfaces.

I explore the liminal space between nature untouched by human intervention
and the "new nature" we ourselves have created.

Beth Dary is originally from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and currently lives and works in New York City. Dary holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Syracuse University and a Masters of Fine Arts from Memphis College of Art. She has participated in several artist residency programs including Yaddo, Virginia Center for the Creative Arts and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Most recently, Dary's work has been curated into exhibits at Prospect.1.5 in New Orleans, the Islip Art Museum and Art in Odd Places in New York. Dary’s work has been commissioned by Battery Park City in Manhattan and she has received grants from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the The Manhattan Community Arts Fund. Her work is in several private and corporate collections including the Edelman Corporation and the New Orleans Museum of Art.

Press

Beth Dary in the New York Times
Beth Dary in American Style
BethDary in Gambit Weekly