Eve Werner

Name of School
San Francisco Art Institute

Expected Graduation Date:
12/11/2021

Faculty Nominator
Maria Elena Gonzalez

Reason for Faculty Nomination
Eve makes poignant works that convey the loss and sense of dispare many residents have experienced due to the devastation wild fires, mainly caused by climate change. Her work utilizes charcoal and debris culled from the various sites in her vicinity. Wether works on paper as relieves, or mixed with other materials in installations, or video, the poetics of her work resonate deeply and in a most powerful way. Eve was directly impacted by CA wildfires and lost her home. She created a body of work last summer reacting to that catastrophic event in the form of large scale abstracted paper maps, utilizing charcoal fragments. She has also been working with urban gardening and on water conservation projects.

Please provide a brief description of your art or medium.
Sculptures and installations that use the 2018 Camp Fire in Paradise, CA as a symbol of the effects of climate change.

Is your artwork handmade by you? If not, please explain
Yes.

Are all or some of the components locally sourced?
The components of my art are mostly locally sourced and include natural and man-made materials found within the Camp Fire burn scar, recycled materials, and items from local thrift stores.

Artist’s Statement:
Since the erasure of my hometown by the 2018 Camp Fire, I’ve sought to convey the vulnerability of people and the environment to the effects of climate change.

Much of my work is commemorative. I pair charred materials from within the burn scar with forms and methods that evoke memorialization practices. The inherent immobility of these materials reflects that the consequences of global warming most affect those without the means to move on.

Another aspect of my work evolved once I began interviewing Camp Fire survivors. All described changed perceptions of safety and control. These personal reorientations, considered within the context of climate change-driven habitat loss, drive a narrative about insecurity. I use materials, political, and social remnants of the fire and its regional aftermath to make illusory shelters that acknowledge fading refuge on our warming planet.

How you will use the Fellowship funds if you are chosen as the winner.
If awarded the Windgate Fellowship, I propose to use the funding to work with the Museum of Northern California Art in Chico, CA, to develop an exhibit that includes my work on the Camp Fire and an accompanying presentation, appropriate for school-aged children. My goal is to show the links between global climate change and the long-term disruptions the fire has caused in our local area.