Victoria Christen

Low Tide, 2011

Exhibition Statement:
Low Tide is a collaborative exhibition by Portland artists Victoria Christen and Suzy Root. Inspired by walking and collecting along the Northern Oregon Coast, our work is a conversation, a set of complimentary responses to the objects and spaces around us and the relationships we have with them.

We are both collectors. For this project we gathered treasures, independently and as a team, from the inter-tidal zone on a seven-mile stretch of the Oregon coast. These collections consist of physical objects such as rocks, barnacles, bits of plastic and bird bones. They are made up of ephemeral elements: the passage of time, the constant transformation of the landscape, the composition of objects and organisms, the residue left by wind, water and people. They are reminders of the transformative nature if the coast and our relationship to it.

Low Tide is an on going project responding to the beauty, strength and fragility inherent to the coastal environment. We combine traditional ceramic materials such as porcelain, earthenware, salt, calcium carbonate with alternative materials such as found objects, plastic and fibers to mimic the paradox of the intertidal zone: a delicate ecology contrasted with the enduring strength of its component materials.