Greetings from the Roanoke River
Creative projects that arose from a yearlong artist residency
with Roanoke Stormwater Utility. 

Benthic macroinvertebrate images and postcards
The staff and volunteers of the Citizen Science Water Monitoring Program (www.cleanvalley.org/citizen-science) count benthic macroinvertebrates to provide insight into water quality. Since some benthics are sensitive to pollution, regular counts can give an indication of water quality and how it's changing over time. ​The benthics below were collected locally and scanned to make the images and postcards.
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The Clean Valley Council sells sets of these postcards to raise money for environmental education. For more information, contact [email protected].

Greetings from the Roanoke River video
The Greetings from the Roanoke River video is ten minutes long and includes four parts. The first part, World of Wonder, is about the beauty I found when recording underwater and how different it is than the view above the surface. In Flood Zone, I focused on how quickly the water can rise and how easy it is to become stalled or washed away on flooded streets. In Pollution, I show some accumulated water debris and list how long it takes to break down. Finally, in All About Those Benthics, I show close-up views of the benthic macroinvertebrates that are counted to determine water quality. 

Below are abridged versions of each section plus stills. The full-length version was shown over three months in the Roanoke Center in the Square and will be screened at the 2024 Clean Valley Council Green Film Festival. 

Drains to River
The trash in these images was collected during the Tinker Creek Cleanup and scanned to create 2' x 3' posters and an 8' banner. The goal is to raise awareness that all trash on the ground flows into (and contaminates) the local waterways. 

World's Largest Hellgrammite!
For the Daisy Art Parade, we collaborated on a giant hellgrammite made of a paper mache head and painted umbrellas. Stormwater Utility staff and volunteers helped create and power the hellgrammite and handed out informational stickers during the parade. 

Community Engagement

An important part of this residency was engagement with the community. I picked up trash during the Tinker Creek Cleanup, discussed art projects during GOFest, created a photogram station for Roanoke Arts Pop, helped create (and carry) the world's largest hellgrammite for the Daisy Art Parade, showed the Greetings video at the Center in the Square for three months, and gave a talk about the experience for the Clean Valley Council. 
The residency was sponsored by Roanoke Stormwater Utility, The National Endowment for the Arts,
and The Roanoke Arts Commission as part of the 2022-23 Year of the Artist. THANK YOU!!

Also, a big thank you to Arts and Culture Coordinator Doug Jackson, and the Year of the Artist coaches and artists for all of your support during the year.
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And finally, a huge thank you to Mckenzie Brocker and Rachel Pence, my awesome Stormwater collaborators, for your knowledge, ideas, time, creativity, feedback, and kindness!!