Arctic Flora and Fauna

A series of arctic sculptures highlighting flora and fauna vulnerable to climate change.

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An Illuminated Feminist Seed Bank

An Illuminated Feminist Seed Bank tells the story of Seeds InService, a unique Chicago garden project by Maggie Puckett and Melissa H. Potter where plant fibers are cultivated for art works, research projects, and public interventions.

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Seeds InService
2014-Ongoing

Seeds InService (SIS), a collaborative project of Melissa H. Potter and Maggie Puckett, grows papermaking plants in gardens curated around ecological and feminist themes including the effects of capitalism, colonization, militarism and climate change on women and other historically marginalized groups, local agricultural heritages, and biodiversity.
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Future Under Climate Tyranny (F.U.C.T)
(A 4° C warmer world)
2011

handmade paper (abaca, cotton, flax, wheat straw, beach and desert sand, soil, marine plastic, dried anchovies, dried shrimp, feather boa seaweed, dried garden plants, vegetable seeds, pigment), pva, acrylic
68 x 123 x 1.5 inches (installed)

The Scream of the Arctic
2013
handmade paper (fibers: abaca, flax, cotton, wheat straw, linen, cattail seeds and reeds, desert agave; inclusions: soil, desert sand, beach sand, leaves, red and green marine algae, lobster shell, campfire charcoal; pigments), pva
70 x 93 x 1 inches (installed; composed of 9 panels each 22 x 30 inches)

A Slow Apocalypse
2014

Unlike the ultimate, sudden end, A Slow Apocalypse is a process, a journey. The itinerary includes extreme weather events, droughts, floods, sea level rise, wildfires, epidemics, and pollution. Based on prompts culled from a veritable glossary of ecological disruption and disaster, draw your version of a slow apocalypse on a variety of handmade paper.

WALL MAP

Psyche-Anthropocene Projection
2013

Psyche-Anthropocene Projection is a world map emotionally predicting the terrifying future of our planet’s biomes as they experience climate change. 

ARTIST'S BOOK

Thaw
2010 - Ongoing
handmade paper (cotton, flax, plant greens, pigment), thread, twigs, Plexi box
book: 6 x 4 x 2 inches (closed)
box: 8 x 8 x 8 inches

ARTIST'S BOOK

Homeland
2013
30 different specimens of handmade paper (fibers: abaca, flax, cotton, wheat straw, linen, cattail seeds and reeds, desert agave; inclusions: soil, red and green marine algae, lobster shell, desert sand, beach sand, campfire charcoal; pigments), waxed linen thread, pva; ink-jet printed title page, diagram, and colophon 2013 7.5 x 50 x 2 inches (flat)

ARTIST'S BOOK

Fire to Fire: From the Big Bang to the Red Planet: A Timeline of the Earth’s Past, Present, and Future in Paper
2011
handmade paper (abaca, cotton, flax, linen, campfire charcoal, red and green marine algae, lobster shell, dried anchovies, roots, ants, shed snakeskin, feathers, pressed flowers, fur and leather, egg shells, vegetable seeds, ground cloves, litter, coarse desert sand, beach sand, pigment), commercial paper, thread, pva, ink
36.5 x 7.5 x 2 inches (flat)

ARTIST'S BOOK

Salty: LICK THIS BOOK
2011
handmade papers (cotton, abaca, sea salt, table salt, pigment), thread, squid tentacles, pva
6 x 5 x 2 inches (closed)

ARTIST'S BOOK

Soil Horizons
2011
handmade paper (abaca, cotton, flax, berries, plant greens, dead leaves, roots, soil, desert sand, pigment), thread, pva, hemp cords
6 x 5 x 4 inches (closed)

BODY OF WORK

Indigenous Unite!
2013
handmade paper

Indigenous Unite! is a collection of portraits and landscapes related to environmental destruction in the Amazon rainforest and those who protest it.

COMMUNITY PROJECT

Phyto-Paper

Phyto-Paper contains organic Lemon Queen sunflower seeds. This plant is known to absorb lead from soil, reducing the soil’s toxicity in a process called phytoremediation. Please plant these seeds in your neighborhood to reduce lead contamination in the soil.

INSTALLATION / ARTIST'S BOOK

The Big Here: Chicago
2014

The Big Here: Chicago is a dynamic participatory installation of 35 questions set on handmade paper designed to test and increase ecological awareness. With each question articulated on paper made out of organic fibers that amplify the question’s content, visitors are encouraged to write and draw answers directly on the installation, which will ultimately be bound into an artist’s book. 

ARTISTS' BOOK

Total Ocean Recall
2010
handmade paper with ink and colored pencil drawings by community members, drum leaf binding
96 pages