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ECOTONE POETRY INTERNATIONAL
Interactive Poetry, a teaser from the ClimArts Sampler
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ECOTONES
Ecotones exist in the relationships between two biomes, or ecosystems. Like shoreline and sea, field and forest, The place where they meet each other is a magical space that is charged with the benefits of both biomes. I see ecotones as a phenomena of rich interactions that bring fresh energy, originality and creativity to life. By encouraging ecotones we improve biodiversity and that is a climate solutions.
POETRY
This dialogical work includes ecopoetry in simile form, drawn from observations of flora and fauna, and query that considers the state of one's being in parallel to nature, taking a kind of pulse of planetary life and subtle introduction of interconnectedness, "like a..." and "what do you"... The people who experience the activity are invited to share their poetic responses to the poems and questions exposing an inner personal meaning, playfulness and revealing statuses.
Pictured are 8 different responses to one of the questions that is part of one art and simile card from participants responding to the same question. The participants are from numerous places on the globe such as the US, India and Europe. The project is planned for Addis Ababa and Bengalaru, and more.
IMAGERY Food, plants, grain, seed
MEDIUM Cyanotype prints, poetry and pen or type (participant responses)
The poetic responses below are written by many Ecotone Poetry participants in answer to the question
"What brings you home?"
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BEELINE TO DINNER PUBLIC ART COMMISSION AND COOKBOOK
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Isobel received a public commission for "Beeline to Dinner", connecting the importance of pollination and a healthy ecology to our multi-cultural dinner plate. The project is from the Office of Art and Culture and SDot for Art Interruptions, 2018, in the Rainier Valley. Recently extended a second year, until October 2021.
Beeline to Dinner to the land of Milk and Honey - the cookbook Volume No. 1 (chapter one of others) presents recipes as a tool for regenerative world culture through mobilized Ethiopian American cuisine. A very tasty part of the pollination story from the Beeline to Dinner Art Installation. Available as in eBook December 2023 |
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My Sword is a Dove published Summer 2023 in paper, print on demand. also available as an eBook.
Laura Jean Smith interviewed me for her Podcast “The Way Home”, and it has been broadcast twice. It’s about my recently published book “My Sword is a Dove” with it’s message about crafting a personal peace
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My Sword is a Dove peace workshop in support of a peace practice - fall 2023
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Leave the busy mind behind and experience magical, meditative, fun floating ink on water, and making beautiful prints! Gather at Inscape, the former INS building and travel through history to a space to make art
For more information go to AIRBNB EXPERIENCES - PAUSED https://abnb.me/7v77UyxZPX?user_id=73997954&s=2 Location: Seattle’s International District |
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Maker's Day at the Museum of History and Industry in South Lake Union, Seattle, was fabulous and by all accounts a success. This was an all-ages cyanotype workshop at MOHAI on Saturday July 28th, 2018, taught by me and Lynette Klein who assisted.
https://mohai.org/event/maker-day-cyanotype-sun-prints/
https://mohai.org/event/maker-day-cyanotype-sun-prints/
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Edges of Water launched my year long art investigation by an artist seeing and acting, of the activity in the boundary zone at the edge where water is found. This began in a collaborative performance at Seattle's International Daipan Festival, in collaboration with Daipan Butoh collective including principals Sheri Brown, Helen Thorsen, Joan Laag, guest Butoh Master Mushimaru Fujieda, visual artists Kate Jessup Patti Bowman and numerous Butoh and art participants. July 12th 6pm at Myrtle Edwards Park.
Cyanotypes made with beach wrack, things left by the high tide such as sea grass, fine shells, mini drift wood pieces, as well as site rocks and sand.
Cyanotypes made with beach wrack, things left by the high tide such as sea grass, fine shells, mini drift wood pieces, as well as site rocks and sand.
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Submergence an installation by Isobel Davis
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VIDEO STILL FROM SUBMERGENCE, THE OYSTER SHELL LABRYNTH
Rainier Beach Art and Music Festival, BAAMfest 2017
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A sprouted labyrinth made out of compost socks and a variety of nutritious and edible seeds, broccoli, radish, alphalfa, etc. An art installation in collaboration with the Rainier Valley Food Bank to reflect on what it takes to feed and be fed. #walkthesprouts #foodsovereignity
NEW VIDEO
in the client gallery
in the client gallery
Glimpse Isobel's Art in an
architectural setting
architectural setting
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First in the new podcast series by Laura Allen with Two Ponies Press. "Original Lines Podcast episode I" features an interview with Isobel Davis. https://twoponiespress.com/podcast/original-lines-episode-1-art-food-mushroom-logs-artist-isobel-davis/
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News received July 6th, 2017
"Isobel Davis: Thank you very much for your interest in the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture Public Artist Roster. Congratulations you were selected to be included on this roster!" Public Art Boot Camp
I am honored to have taken the intense training for working as a public artist in April 2017. This opportunity was awarded to 35 applicants by the Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, who provided 34 artists, engineers, fabricators, program managers, to speak with us, in-person consultations, and a public art tour. |
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Round About Series -
A client commissioned this work. She took five pieces as gifts to a family in Norway this May. They were well received by the recipient who says: "These are beautiful, and even more in real life... very special..." Inger-Anne
A client commissioned this work. She took five pieces as gifts to a family in Norway this May. They were well received by the recipient who says: "These are beautiful, and even more in real life... very special..." Inger-Anne
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Sweet Spot in the Ecotone Exhibit at Windermere Mt. Baker This show has been extended through May. Please come take a tour. Two pieces have been bid on, there are still many pieces available. Please drop in any day during business hours M-Sunday, through March. Excited to announce that 5% sales of art from this exhibit will be going to food justice projects and the Rainier Valley Food Bank |
RendezView
Get acquainted with my art in your space\
Get an "art pick-me-up" delivered to your door
Rent original art for a fraction of the value of the art for 2 months renewable
Get a new view every few months
Yearly subscription art rental package includes 4 exchanges or re-rentals.
Yes you can purchase the art. Part of rental fees can be applied to purchases.
RendezView art rental is currently available only for metro Seattle area, except by special arrangement.
Ask for details at the RendezView tab contact form.
Get acquainted with my art in your space\
Get an "art pick-me-up" delivered to your door
Rent original art for a fraction of the value of the art for 2 months renewable
Get a new view every few months
Yearly subscription art rental package includes 4 exchanges or re-rentals.
Yes you can purchase the art. Part of rental fees can be applied to purchases.
RendezView art rental is currently available only for metro Seattle area, except by special arrangement.
Ask for details at the RendezView tab contact form.
Transience - LA Photo Curator's Exhibition - 2016
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I am happy to have two Cyanotype/water color pieces in this exhibit during October 2016 at Potter Gallery, WMSU One of my pieces was used in the news release to market the show. |
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BAAMFest at Rainier Beach in July, 2016
The Folks at Rainier Valley Food Bank invited me to design a super large Mandala to sit next to their festival booth for the community to fill in with colored lentils. All ages went to work. The Food Art Person that I am, it was a perfect pairing. This animated GIF shows the project with time-lapse and little and big hands. |
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http://www.laphotocurator.com/transience-curator-adam-finkelston/group-exhibition/15
Three of my cyanotype images were selected to appear in L.A. Photo Curator's online exhibition "Transience", an International themed competition curated by Adam Finkelston, Posted October 4, 2016, see page 15.
"Making a Statement" Saturday, April 9th, 2016 6:00pm-9:00pm BallardWorks, 2856 NW Market St., Seattle 98107
Artwork and Artist Statements from Artist Trust EDGE graduates, 2013-2014. Participating artists: D.Lisa West, Andie Styner, Ellen Hochberg, Isobel Davis, Mary Ashton, Anita West, Susan Derrick, Louise Hankes, Kip Kania, Melissa Koch and John Webster.
Isobel Davis Art Statement
Life’s transitions happen in the sweet spot of the ecotone, a zone in biology where ecosystems intersect leading to explosive biodiversity and originality. The encaustic collages imagine sanctuary in the disruption of these zones. Nature’s creativity at the edges is an
instructive counterpoint to gloom-and-doom climate scenarios with accelerated transitions where the vulnerable are at risk.
Incorporated into some of the collages and standing alone as a body of work, my cyanotypes capture the energy of a vibrant ecology, referencing the food supply, and standing as a metaphor for the social ecology. In my studio practice, I choose mediums that force me to partner with nature’s unpredictability. Watercolor on paper is loosely controlled, wax melts on a hot plate in relaxed abandon, the out-of-doors cyanotype process records the variable effects of sun and weather, all engaging my responses and reactions, resulting in work which embodies the energy and aliveness of a transition zone I call the ecotone workspace.
Photo of encaustic collage pieces by Isobel Davis.
Artwork and Artist Statements from Artist Trust EDGE graduates, 2013-2014. Participating artists: D.Lisa West, Andie Styner, Ellen Hochberg, Isobel Davis, Mary Ashton, Anita West, Susan Derrick, Louise Hankes, Kip Kania, Melissa Koch and John Webster.
Isobel Davis Art Statement
Life’s transitions happen in the sweet spot of the ecotone, a zone in biology where ecosystems intersect leading to explosive biodiversity and originality. The encaustic collages imagine sanctuary in the disruption of these zones. Nature’s creativity at the edges is an
instructive counterpoint to gloom-and-doom climate scenarios with accelerated transitions where the vulnerable are at risk.
Incorporated into some of the collages and standing alone as a body of work, my cyanotypes capture the energy of a vibrant ecology, referencing the food supply, and standing as a metaphor for the social ecology. In my studio practice, I choose mediums that force me to partner with nature’s unpredictability. Watercolor on paper is loosely controlled, wax melts on a hot plate in relaxed abandon, the out-of-doors cyanotype process records the variable effects of sun and weather, all engaging my responses and reactions, resulting in work which embodies the energy and aliveness of a transition zone I call the ecotone workspace.
Photo of encaustic collage pieces by Isobel Davis.
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Recent Cyanotype work at
Collin's Pub February-March 2016 Reception: First Thursday Pioneer Square, February 4th 526 2nd Ave, Seattle Hours: 11:30 - midnight, every day. Six cyanotypes |
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Now Exhibiting Cyanotypes and Encaustic collages from the studio of Isobel Davis
August through February 2016 - Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
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Suite 2300
777 108th Avenue NE Bellevue, Washington 98004-5149 By appointment |
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Art RendezvousGet acquainted with my art in your space Framed works for rent by subscription or for trial Contact Isobel Davis Art [email protected] http://www.isobeldavisart.com/cyanotypes.html |
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Studio newsletter update
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click image to see more
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Energy of the Ecotone
Exhibiting cyanotype and encaustic works throughout the Row House Cafe, 1170 Republican St, Seattle, 98109, 206-682-7632. Opening at the South Lake Union Art Walk in December, 2014 through February 2015. Open during restaurant hours. NEW EVENT: Collaboration with Butoh Butoh in the Ecotone a food and art performance March 7, 4-7:00pm $30 includes food, drink www.brownpapertickets.com |
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The Painting Center is Turning 21!
"Ecotone Germination" is being exhibited in this show commemorating 21 years of the center. The Painting Center, West 27th St., New York, NY, November 25 - December 20, 2014. |
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Food for Thought: On Garden Time I
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Lip-Smacking-Good.blogspot.com
Lip Smacking Good Recipes for Community Crops Jerusalem Artichoke Harvest and art Installation Saturday November 8th, 11:00, 2014 Bradner Gardens in Seattle, Washington Cyanotype and encaustic medium on cloth and copper This art installation signifies the intersection between instant tech time and garden time. The use of technology such as QR Codes and URL's, is juxtaposed with garden time, the cycle of seasons, and waiting for an annual harvest. Technology can’t speed up nature's calendar. The event: after harvesting and food sampling, participants did an installation of , “Food for Thought: On Garden Time, Phase I", a hanging some of the 13 tiles that were made to represent the first 13 recipes created for the Jerusalem Artichoke recipe blog. Sustainability can taste good. After distribution amongst participants, 50#'s was donated to the Rainier Valley Food Bank, with recipes. The Jerusalem Artichoke project is about making community crops more accessible by connecting community to recipes with art. This is an ongoing participatory project. Contribute recipes at Lip-Smacking-Good.blogspot.com. |
Shifting Ecologies
June - July 2014 Reception: Thursday, June 19th, 6-8pm Pannel Discussion: Friday, June 20th, 6-8pm The Painting Center, W 27th St. NYC "Earth's Floatsam in the Ecotone" Cyanotype, 23"x30" Statement: “Earth’s Flotsam” examines life in transition in the ecotone, a zone where ecosystems intersect leading to explosive biodiversity. Nature’s creativity at the edges is an instructive counterpoint to doom-and-gloom climate scenarios. My cyanotypes record the variable effects of sun and weather, embodying the energy and aliveness of this transition zone. |
Give and Take
installation with 5 city trees TK Art of the City Festival August 2nd, 2014 Intertwined and connected like a grove of trees by the Mycorrozal fungi and roots that equalize resources, carbon and nitrogen, traveling to and fro Repurposed shirts, bees wax, oil pastel, cyanotype, wire 
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Ecology Global Network
"Earth's Flotsam" appears in the EcoArt section of Ecology website along with other artists from the exhibit Shifting Ecologies. It appears in part 2 of 5. http://www.ecology.com/2014/08/15/shifting-ecologies-environmental-art-part-2/
"Earth's Flotsam" appears in the EcoArt section of Ecology website along with other artists from the exhibit Shifting Ecologies. It appears in part 2 of 5. http://www.ecology.com/2014/08/15/shifting-ecologies-environmental-art-part-2/
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Waxhouse Drips Eternal, 2014 Insights by the artist My title “Waxhouse Drips Eternal” juxtaposes death with a symbol of eternal existence. The last line in Sylvia Plath’s bee poem, "Stings", compares death of the queen bee with domestic oppression, “Over the engine that killed her—The mausoleum, the wax house,” whereas "Drips Eternal" refers to the eternal stores of honey, the byproduct of the sacrifice, created and ever dripping from the hive. Our interspecies exchange with honey bees is evidenced by venerable appearances in art, mythology, the sacred, social customs, architecture, poetry and language dating back 10,000 years. Yet honeybees remain feral and impossible to domesticate. Instead, we manipulate the partnership. They don’t pollinate crops for us, they collect pollen for their hives but we place our crops in the pollinator's path. And so it is with Plath’s poem, where the queen bee is in a predictable state of decline, yet through the poet’s pen, becomes a feminist symbol of an oppressive existence, steeped in the rhetoric of vulnerability, loss of power, sacrifice and ultimately death. This poem belongs to a series of poems referencing bees written shortly before her own death. The metaphor of the hive invites comparisons about domestic female oppression, but to complete the metaphor, one can look at the historical female’s characteristic role in building community, in creation and procreation for the perpetuity of the human species, represented not only by the social organization of the hive but the legacy left after the ultimate sacrifice of the female worker bees life, the creation of honey, the natural world's only imperishable food supply. Today, the headline story is about unscripted death of honeybees, as populations decline, imperiled by our actions (pesticide use, over development, and imbalances in the environment causing a proliferation of parasites and diseases). This is critical because insect pollination services are valuable to our food productivity. Bees are responsible for as much as ⅓ of the perishable foods that we eat. Ironically, the honey they produce is imperishable, the only earth sourced food that doesn’t decompose. Lifting oppressive practices affecting vulnerable populations, both human and invertebrate (to combine analogies) is critical to allow creative productivity to flow such as bees gift of honey, the eternal gold. |
APRIL 16TH - MAY 14, 2014 CREON GALLERY 238 EAST 24TH ST, 1B, NY, NY 10010 646.265.5508 
WAXHOUSE DRIPS ETERNAL, everlasting food stores of the vanishing species, 2014
Isobel Davis
"WAXHOUSE DRIPS ETERNAL" installed at Creon Gallery
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Bee-line to the Land of Milk and Honey
Invited to be a presenter, I deigned and ran a sustainability workshop. The workshop goal was to create an installation-art piece for the community with a message about protecting bee pollinators. This was part of the Sustainability Conference at Principia College, Elsah, Illinois, March, 2014. Participants embellished artifacts and assembeled an installation in support of pollinator popularions that included a "Pollinators Garden", a "Portrait Gallery of Endangered Fruits and Vegetables", and a poetry writing session for "Sweet Talk in the Swarm". 
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