Bonnie Peterson

Artist Statement

My art chronicles my adventures in the wilderness and through life. I use embroidery to communicate provocative environmental and social issues. I present quantitative information in an unusual combination of stitched text and graphics. The work provides a novel opportunity to consider the scientific and historic context inherent in current events and social questions.

My current work examines geophysical climate issues. After hiking with scientists to measure Yosemite National Park's last glacier, the Lyell Glacier, I embroidered the glacier's topographic lines on silk. I also transferred historical comparative photos of the glacier and embroidered text from 19th and 20th century explorers' journals describing the glacier. During another backpacking trip I walked on mushy trails winding across recently melted glaciers on the 'haute route' in Switzerland and made an embroidery of the Bluemlisalp Glacier incorporating the topography and a graph of its shrinking size over the past century. After trekking in Tibet, I started work on a large (70" x 70") embroidered velvet and brocade wall hanging which integrates ancient Tibetan cultural traditions with political issues surrounding land and water control.

Recently I've collaborated with scientists on two projects about environmental issues. For one, concerning lakes, I embroidered a large silk and brocade graph using invasive species and native fish population data. Historical records of lake ice and chemistry are presented in other graphs, along with explanations of the science. In another concerning climate change, atmospheric field equations and ice core records are embroidered in brocade alongside a quote from Ernest Shackleton, an early 20th century Antarctic explorer.

I am often astonished when I find a passage in an explorer's journal that describes scenery I have visited or a rugged mountain trail I've walked. I share that sense of discovery and uncovering in my work. With soft materials and ornate stitching, I expose the viewer to fascinating science and environmental interactions on our earth.