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Thijs Biersteker’s Digital Sculptures Translate Climate Data into Urgent Calls to Action

by Aurelia Butler 16 July 2025, 16:29

“ORIGIN.” All images courtesy of Thijs Biersteker, shared with permission

Thijs Biersteker’s Digital Sculptures Translate Climate Data into Urgent Calls to Action

July 16, 2025

ArtClimateDesignFoodNatureScience

Kate Mothes

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An unassuming cacao tree in Indonesia has made a unique connection to a high-tech artwork in China. Thanks to multimedia digital artist Thijs Biersteker, “ORIGIN” is a sculpture — a “digital twin” — that reflects the elemental experiences of the tropical tree through pulses of light.

“When it rains in Indonesia, you see the sap flow through the sculpture in real time,” the artist says. “When the air quality shifts, the flows respond. During a heatwave, the tree visibly struggles. This real-time installation reveals just how fragile the cacao supply chain has become.”

A majority of cacao, the primary ingredient in chocolate, is cultivated in places that are also the most vulnerable to the effects of the climate crisis. Extreme weather, habitat destruction, and other issues also mean that global food resiliency is increasingly threatened.

For Biersteker, data provides unique insights into changes on the ground, and through a recent collaboration with the Indonesian Coffee and Cocoa Research Institute (ICCRI), he devised a way to literally illuminate environmental impacts.

The artist is particularly interested in the relationship between data and nature, especially our scientific understanding of climate change and how it affects biodiversity, food, and habitats. Hooking up sensors to a specimen at ICCRI’s research site in Java, Bierksteker created a translucent, sculptural mirror of the tree, which is currently installed at Zaishui Art Museum in the city of Rizhao, Shandong Province.

Another work, “WITHER,” in collaboration with UNICEF, comprises a tropical installation with flickering leaves representing rainforest loss. Each flicker symbolizes 128 square meters of deforestation, based on data from Amazon rainforest watch groups. And “ECONTINUUM,” a collaboration with Stefano Mancuso, invites us into a kind of “conversation” occurring between tree roots in a twinkling digital composition. The work nods to recent scientific discoveries that suggest trees communicate with one another via their intricate subterranean systems to provide or request nutrients or warn others of dangers like disease or infestations.

“WITHER”

For “ORIGIN,” the live cacao tree in Java transmits information, its digital copy animating with fluctuating light. “This mirrors the role of the institutions behind it: making the invisible visible and reconnecting people with the systems that feed them,” Biersteker says in a statement. “It is where data begins to speak to the imagination and where data-driven art becomes a new language for change.”

Explore more on Bierksteker’s website and Instagram. If you enjoy pieces that explore the intersection of data and nature, you’ll also like Marshmallow Laser Feast’s “Of the Oak” installation at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Details of cacao tree in Java and “ORIGIN”

Detail of “ORIGIN”

Detail of “ECONTINUUM”

Detail of “ORIGIN”

“WITHER”

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Dr. Ella Hawkins Reimagines Ancient Artifacts and Prized Objects as Edible Replicas
by Aurelia Butler 31 May 2025, 18:28
William Morris Biscuit Set. All images courtesy of Ella Hawkins, shared with permission
Dr. Ella Hawkins Reimagines Ancient Artifacts and Prized Objects as Edible Replicas
May 31, 2025
ArtDesignFoodIllustration
Grace Ebert
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Academic research is notoriously niche and often opaque, but Dr. Ella Hawkins has found a crowd-pleasing way to share her studies. The Birmingham-based artist and design historian translates her interests in Shakespeare performance, costume, and matieral culture into edible replicas.
Hawkins bakes batches of cookies that she tops with royal icing. Decorating takes a scholarly turn, as she uses tiny paintbrushes and a mini projector to help trace imagery of William Morris’ ornate floral motifs or coastal scenes from English delftware. Rendering a design on a single cookie can take anywhere between two and four hours, depending on the complexity. Unsurprisingly, minuscule calligraphy and portraits are most demanding.
Ancient Greek Pottery Sherds
Hawkins first merged baking and her research about a decade ago while studying undergraduate costume design at the University of Warwick. She decided to bake cupcakes based on Shakespeare productions that her class examined. “It felt like a fun way to look back at all the different design styles we’d covered through the year,” she tells Colossal, adding:
I carried on decorating cakes and cookies based on costume design through my PhD (mainly as goodies to give out during talks, or as gifts for designers that I interviewed), then branched out and spent lots of time doing cookie versions of other artefacts to keep busy during the pandemic.
She has since published an academic book on the topic and is a senior lecturer at Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. But she also continues to translate artifacts and prized objects held within museum collections into delicious canvases.
There’s a set made in collaboration with Milton’s Cottage, a museum in the country house where John Milton finished his epic Paradise Lost. Anchored by a delicately crosshatched portrait evoking that of the frontispiece, the collection contains typographic titles and signs that appear straight from a 17th-century book.
Delftware Tiles
Hawkins ventures farther back in history to ancient Greece with a collection of pottery sherds inspired by objects within the Ashmolean Museum. With a bowed surface to mimic a vessel’s curvature, the irregular shapes feature fragments of various motifs and figures to which she applied a sgraffito technique, a Renaissance method of scratching a surface to reveal the layer below.
The weathered appearance is the result of blotting a base of pale brown-grey before using a scribe tool to scratch and crack the royal icing coating the surface. She then lined these etchings with a mix of vodka and black food coloring to mimic dirt and wear. (It’s worth taking a look at this process video.)
Other than a select few preserved for talks and events, Hawkins assures us that the rest of her cookies are eaten. Find more of her work on her website and Instagram.
Medieval Tiles, inspired by The Tristram Tiles, Chertsey, Surrey, England (c. 1260s-70s)
Milton’s Cottage Biscuit Set developed in collaboration with Milton’s Cottage
Outlander Biscuit Set
Elizabethan Gauntlet Biscuit Set
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Delight in Heather Rios’s Delectable Cakes Made from Polymer Clay and Embroidery
by Aurelia Butler 17 March 2025, 12:26
All images courtesy of Heather Rios, shared with permission
Delight in Heather Rios’s Delectable Cakes Made from Polymer Clay and Embroidery
March 17, 2025
ArtCraftFood
Kate Mothes
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While Heather Rios’s slices of layer cake look ready to stick a fork into, you may want to think twice. Formed of polymer clay and finished with embroidery, the artist pairs the sweets with a vintage plate—and sometimes a fork—in playful trompe l’oeils.
Enveloped in realistic frosting and decorated with berries, blossoms, and sprinkles, each work evokes pieces you’d be ready to dig into at a birthday or wedding. Rios meticulously embroiders each sponge element, fashioning patterned layers in thread on a hoop before transferring the finished panel to the sculpture.
In addition to freestanding forms, Rios embellishes small paintings with shallow reliefs of cakes on canvas, emphasizing vibrant color and the fluffy texture of the exposed interiors.
Many of Rios’s cakes would be exceedingly difficult to achieve in reality, like detailed floral designs or motifs from blue-and-white porcelain. Lucky for us, we can have our cake and keep it, too. Find more on the artist’s Instagram, and purchase a slice from her Etsy shop.
A sponge embroidery in progress
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Wayne Thiebaud’s Passion for Art History Shines in ‘Art Comes from Art’
by Aurelia Butler 20 February 2025, 10:00
“Buffet” (1972-1975), oil on canvas, 48 1/8 x 60 1/8 inches. Photo by Katherine Du Tiel. All images © Wayne Thiebaud Foundation, licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY, courtesy of UC Press, shared with permission
Wayne Thiebaud’s Passion for Art History Shines in ‘Art Comes from Art’
February 20, 2025
ArtBooksHistory
Kate Mothes
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If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Wayne Thiebaud (1920-2021) knew how to appropriate most ardently. The renowned artist once said, “It’s hard for me to think of artists who weren’t influential on me because I’m such a blatant thief.”
Next month, a major retrospective highlights Thiebaud’s six-decade career, featuring around 60 quintessential works spanning a range of subject matter. From his celebrated still-lifes of dessert displays and prosaic household objects to portraits, cityscapes, and expansive natural vistas, Wayne Thiebaud: Art Comes from Art takes a deep dive into the artist’s engagement with art history.
“Five Seated Figures” (1965 ), oil on canvas, 60 x 72 inches
Thiebaud spent time in the 1950s with abstract artists like Franz Kline and Elaine and Willem de Kooning in New York City, where he also met Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns whose mixed-media practices incorporated found objects in conceptual, proto-Pop Art paintings and assemblages. While in the city, Thiebaud made small paintings of food displayed on windows, which he further explored when he returned to California.
Thiebaud’s career originated with a focus on illustration and cartoons, which aligned with the emergence of Pop Art in the U.S. in the early 1960s. A response to the austerity of the First and Second World Wars, the movement celebrated bold colors, repetition, and everyday objects and commodities.
Art Comes from Art showcases how Thiebaud borrowed from the breadth of European and American masterworks, from Henri Matisse to Richard Diebenkorn to Andrea Mantegna. “I believe very much in the tradition that art comes from art and nothing else,” the artist said.
Thiebaud copied, reinterpreted, mashed up, and transformed art history into his own artistic vision, viewing other artists’ cumulative work as a kind of archive or repository—an encyclopedic “bureau of standards” that he could “steal” from while simultaneously paying tribute to titans of the Western art canon.
“Three Machines” (1963), oil on canvas, 30 x 36 1/2 inches. Photo by Randy Dodson, courtesy of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
In oil paintings like “35 Cent Masterpieces,” Thiebaud renders a display of artwork reproductions evocative of postcards or bookshelves in a museum gift shop. And lighting redolent of Edward Hopper, also known for depicting everyday American scenes, contrasts the subjects of “Five Seated Figures.” Along with Thiebauld’s vibrant, buttery portrayals of meals and treats with characteristically glowing blue shadows, additional pieces reference Rembrandt, George Seurat, Édouard Manet, and many more.
Wayne Thiebaud: Art Comes from Art opens at San Francisco’s Legion of Honor on March 22 and continues through August 17. The show is accompanied by a catalog published by UC Press slated for release in mid-April. Find your copy on Bookshop.
“Bar-B-Qued Chickens” (1961), oil on canvas, 19 x 24 inches
“Canyon Mountains” (2011-2012), oil on canvas, 66 1/8 x 54 1/8 inches. Photo by Katherine Du Tiel
“Betty Jean Thiebaud and Book” (1965-1969), oil on canvas, 36 x 30 inches
Front cover of ‘Art Comes from Art’ featuring “35 Cent Masterworks” (1970-1972), oil on canvas, 36 x 24 inches
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Naomi Peterson Channels a Sweet Tooth and Sense of Togetherness in Her Vibrant ‘Cup-Cakes’
by Aurelia Butler 4 February 2025, 10:00
“Mud Pies.” All images courtesy of Naomi Peterson, shared with permission
Naomi Peterson Channels a Sweet Tooth and Sense of Togetherness in Her Vibrant ‘Cup-Cakes’
February 4, 2025
ArtCraftFood
Kate Mothes
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Frosted sponge and overstuffed pies are just a few of the sweet treats Naomi Peterson crafts from clay. Her playful “cup-cakes” take confectionery as a starting point, adding layers reminiscent of fondant, ice cream scoops, berries, and sprinkles.
Many of Peterson’s pieces are functional, incorporating lids or handles to be used as vessels or coffee mugs. “I’m drawn to visual sweetness, imagining the potential enjoyment of confectioneries rather than physically consuming them,” she tells Colossal. “I actually prefer savory and salty foods to sweet ones!”
“Topiary Jar 2”
Flowers complement playful lattice patterns in vibrant hues, sometimes leaning into a garden theme with topiary forms. Peterson relies on an intuitive approach that combines wheel-thrown techniques with hand-building methods like coils, slabs, and pinching. “I construct different forms and plan surfaces later,” she says. “I find if I pre-plan the surface and shape from the beginning, the process becomes too controlled, limiting spontaneity.”
Once the basic form is complete, Peterson adds or removes elements through darting—cutting wedge-shaped pieces from a cylinder of clay—and embellishing with sprig or press molds. “My surfaces require many applications and separate firings to achieve vibrant, layered effects,” she says. “Before ceramics, I spent many years painting mainly with oils, influencing much of my surface decisions.”
We often think of confectionery as a token of joy, celebration, and togetherness. Every cake and bon bon reflects Peterson’s interest in relationships and the way our actions and emotions entwine us with others and our communities. The spaces in between the dot patterns are essential, “not to keep each element distant but to connect them,” she says. “Although not physically connected, each of us is important as part of a whole.”
Peterson’s work will be part of Dirt Folk: Planted, a pop-up exhibition running concurrently with the 2025 National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts conference in March in Salt Lake City. If you’re on the East Coast, you’ll be able to see her work in Lines and Patterns from March 22 to May 24 at Baltimore Clayworks. Find more on the artist’s website and Instagram.
Assorted “Cakes”
“Flower Pot”
Assorted “Bon Bons”
“Bloom Cake 2”
Assorted “Bon Bons”
“Pluff Jar”
Confectionery-inspired mugs
“Harmonia”
Assorted “Cakes”
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Through Ceramics, Stephanie Shih Considers the Disillusioning Price of Domestic Bliss
by Aurelia Butler 27 January 2025, 14:03
“Nuclear Family” (2024). Photo by Robert Bredvad courtesy of the artist and Alexander Berggruen, shared with permission
Through Ceramics, Stephanie Shih Considers the Disillusioning Price of Domestic Bliss
January 27, 2025
ArtSocial Issues
Jackie Andres
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Nothing says true love like arguing about who left the cap off the toothpaste, right? From a darkly comedic perspective, Stephanie Shih explores the multiple meanings of “domestic bliss” in a social landscape fraught with consumerism and clashing politics.
It all started with the 1998 self-help book, Divorce for Dummies. The sardonic humor of a goofy cartoon character exclamatorily holding up a finger offering counsel to one’s broken marriage—for the totally reasonable price of $19.99—was a catalyst for Shih’s interest in the capitalist absurdity that came with the divorce boom of the 1980s and ’90s.
“Chores” (2024). Photo by Robert Bredvad
Shifting social and cultural factors, such as the introduction of no-fault divorce laws and emergent waves of feminism, drastically impacted the outlook on divorce in America. Rising individualism, disillusionment with the idea of a nuclear family, and the reclamation of feminine independence all played a part in annulment rates doubling for those aged over 35.
In Shih’s solo exhibition aptly titled Domestic Bliss, the Brooklyn-based artist spotlights what the gallery, Alexander Berggruen, describes as “artifacts of a single household.” The array of objects evoke the reality of a time when materialism, distorted expectations, and self-loathing created a perfect storm.
A Thigh Master one likely ordered from QVC in the deep hours of night sits alone on a pedestal, epitomizing the ways in which consumer culture preyed upon insecurities, only to sell women the illusion of control. Prisoner of Desire rests face-down on an ironing board to hold one’s place as escapism is interrupted by the mediocrity of chores. TV dinners stack atop a glowing microwave to signify power dynamics, a substantial portion of Hungry Man reserved for the father and the smallest box reserved for the mother.
Expanding upon her previous domestic sculptures, each ceramic object evokes a sense of realism, thanks to the artist’s thoroughness. As the exhibition text explains, Shih “scoured eBay listings for photo references and exact dimensions of discontinued packaging in order to faithfully sculpt each object in its era-appropriate likeness.” A range of materials and techniques are then applied to each form, such as hand-painted underglaze, dyed resin, and even electrical elements like lighting. Every step of the way, the artist skillfully instills the mundane with liveliness.
Domestic Bliss is on view at Alexander Berggruen in New York City through February 26. Find much more on Shih’s Instagram and website.
“Dissolution” (2024). Photo by Robert Bredvad
Photo by Robert Bredvad
“Jagged Little Pill” (2024). Photo by Robert Bredvad
Installation of “Domestic Bliss” (2024). Photo by Dario Lasagni
“Happy Meal” (2024). Photo by Robert Bredvad
“Hot Pockets” (2024). Photo by Robert Bredvad
Installation of “Domestic Bliss” (2024). Photo by Dario Lasagni
Installation of “Domestic Bliss” (2024). Photo by Dario Lasagni
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Chunbo Zhang Sandwiches Rich American Fare Between Ancient Chinese Treasures
by Aurelia Butler 24 January 2025, 14:17
All images courtesy of Chunbo Zhang, shared with permission
Chunbo Zhang Sandwiches Rich American Fare Between Ancient Chinese Treasures
January 24, 2025
ArtFood
Grace Ebert
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In Chunbo Zhang’s Food Treasure series, cheese oozes from a patterned porcelain crust, while grease pools around a burger with a ceramic-like bun. Painted in acrylic or watercolor, the delicate compositions capture the gluttony and excess of the quintessential American diet.
Zhang, who’s based in Chicago, began the series in 2018 after moving to the U.S. and was struggling to adapt to her new surroundings, particularly regarding food. “It is not only essential in our daily life but also an entry point for foreigners to understand an unfamiliar culture,” she tells Colossal.
The artist found American dairy products difficult to digest and popular desserts like donuts and Oreos far too sweet. As she wondered how to bridge the divide between her Chinese background and adopted home, she began to paint realistic renderings of epicurean delights like deep-dish pizza and bagels thick with schmear. Except where a viewer might expect to find a glistening egg-wash glaze or crispy crust, Zhang painted motifs from antique porcelain.
Food Treasure depicts many of the dishes on a larger scale, nodding to both the immense portions of the American diet and also the outsized impact meals have on shaping our cultural identities. Each work emphasizes myriad tensions: hard and soft, raw and cooked, inedible and nourishing, ancient and contemporary, functional and decorative, high and low aesthetics. Reflecting Zhang’s anxieties, the works ask, “Do the two cultures fight each other or can they merge?”
Questions like this are fundamental to the series and inform how Zhang chooses reference imagery from Chinese wares that correspond to the dish. For example, the cheeseburger is sandwiched between a motif that represents long life and happiness, another dichotomy considering the diner fare is unlikely to find itself among any dietician’s recommendations. These patterns also reflect movement and migration as blue-and-white porcelain and elaborate, vivid florals emerged from cultural exchanges dating back to the 13th century.
In 2023, Zhang began to think about the ways food travels and painted an iteration of a drippy cheeseburger on remnants of a large FedEx box. The cardboard canvas references to-go culture and how pre-prepared and restaurant meals are often removed from their original context and consumed.
Several works from the Food Treasure series are on view through April 27 in Sustenance & Land at Elmhurst Art Museum. Find more on Zhang’s website.
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In the Mood for Food, Soeun Lee Solders Vibrant Stained Glass Visions of Comfort
by Aurelia Butler 31 October 2024, 13:46
All images courtesy of Soeun Lee, shared with permission
In the Mood for Food, Soeun Lee Solders Vibrant Stained Glass Visions of Comfort
October 31, 2024
ArtCraft
Kate Mothes
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Drawing on her background in illustration, Soeun Lee captures atmospheric tableaux of sunny breakfasts and relaxing reading spots in stained glass. A fried egg in a pan, an open book left on a table, or a full cup of coffee next to a plate of toast suggest someone is nearby, just out of the frame.
“I play around with things that hint at a personal presence, like an empty chair, a book, or a mug,” Lee tells Colossal. “I want the viewer to be able to sense the lingering traces of a conversation or thought that occurred just moments before.”
Nodding to the deep shadows of Edward Hopper’s “Chop Suey” or Wayne Thiebaud’s baked confections, Lee’s compositions draw on similar themes and emphasize contrast to create each interior’s mood. “Many of my pieces draw inspiration from classic American diners, which evoke a sense of familiarity and warmth for everyone,” she says, “whether they are newcomers or lifelong residents.”
The notion of comfort runs through much of Lee’s work, especially through the subtopic of food. Stacks of pancakes or toast are lit by the morning sun through nearby windows or an open refrigerator illuminates its contents. This play on light continues by way of the medium itself, activated by the sun shining through the panes to brighten vibrant colors.
“Many of my designs cast long shadows, evoking the time of day, whether it’s the very early morning light or the warm glow of sunset,” she says. “I choose the colors to reflect that mood. Early mornings evoke a sense of hope and the promise of a new day, while shadows from a sunset remind me to find down, reflect, and find rest.”
Lee is currently working on new pieces, which she will make available on her website. Follow Instagram for updates.
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Narsiso Martinez Exalts the Individuality of America’s Farmworkers in ‘Joyfully Grown’
by Aurelia Butler 18 September 2024, 15:39
“Delano Grapes” (2024), ink, charcoal, collage, acrylic, and simple leaf on grape box, 16 x 24 x 5.5 inches. Photos by @ofphotostudio Yubo Dong. All images © Narsiso Martinez, courtesy of the artist and Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles, shared with permission
Narsiso Martinez Exalts the Individuality of America’s Farmworkers in ‘Joyfully Grown’
September 18, 2024
Art Social Issues
Kate Mothes
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“In the Works,” the centerpiece of Narsiso Martinez’s solo exhibition at Charlie James Gallery, spans three walls and is made from dozens of found produce boxes. At the center of the piece and above a doorway is a long table resplendent with apples, kiwi, oranges, and grapes, all crowned by a chandelier.
Flanking the dinner, farmworkers climb ladders or sit on the ground, sorting the harvest into the very boxes the composition is made from. Back in the center, the faceless attendees at the table enjoy the literal fruit of the workers’ labor.
“In the Works” (2024), acrylic, gouache, charcoal, collage, and simple leaf on produce boxes, 178 x 305 inches
In Joyfully Grown, Martinez (previously) continues his exploration of the labor system, relationships, and power imbalances. He taps into his experience emigrating from Oaxaca when he was 20 years old, determined to find a more sustainable livelihood in the U.S.
Martinez finished high school at 29, then went on to study fine art in college. While he pursued an MFA, he began working seasonally in eastern Washington’s sprawling apple orchards where he became acquainted with other farmworkers and learned their stories.
The artist was struck by how individuals in America’s agricultural system, whose intense physical labor the entire framework relies on, go unseen by those who depend on freshly stocked produce in the supermarket.
“Resist” (2024), ink, charcoal, and simple leaf on strawberry box, 20 x 11.5 x 5.5 inches
Beginning with photographs, Martinez employs visual languages of prestige—drawing specifically on Catholic portraiture’s emphasis on luxurious fabrics and backgrounds of gold leaf—to empower and uplift workers.
In “Resist,” for example, a young man is portrayed within the frame of a berry box, backed with gold and wearing a graduation gown. The cap encircles his head like a halo, invoking the divine and signaling the glorious potential of education.
By elevating the humble cardboard box to the status of picture frame and depicting hardworking people in their esteemed individuality, Martinez scrutinizes who and what society values.
Joyfully Grown continues through October 26 in Los Angeles. Explore more of Martinez’s work on his Instagram.
“The Planning” (2024), ink, gouache, charcoal, acrylic, and simple leaf on berry box, 15.5 x 20 x 4.25 inches
Detail of “In the Works”
Detail of “In the Works”
“Blue Joy” (2024), ink, charcoal, collage, acrylic, and simple leaf on blueberry box, 16 x 23.5 x 5.5 inches
“Fresh is Our Favorite” (2024), ink, charcoal, collage, and acrylic on red seedless grape box, 24 x 16.5 x 6 inches
“Embracing Future” (2024), ink, charcoal, and simple leaf on orange box, 23.5 x 16 x 6 inches
Collaboration with Ashley Jose-Isip, “On the Grass” (2024), ink, gouache, charcoal, and simple leaf on grape box, 15.75 x 23.75 x 5.5 inches
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Thijs Biersteker’s Digital Sculptures Translate Climate Data into Urgent Calls to Action

More stories

Dr. Ella Hawkins Reimagines Ancient Artifacts and Prized Objects as Edible Replicas

Delight in Heather Rios’s Delectable Cakes Made from Polymer Clay and Embroidery

Wayne Thiebaud’s Passion for Art History Shines in ‘Art Comes from Art’

Naomi Peterson Channels a Sweet Tooth and Sense of Togetherness in Her Vibrant ‘Cup-Cakes’

Chunbo Zhang Sandwiches Rich American Fare Between Ancient Chinese Treasures

In the Mood for Food, Soeun Lee Solders Vibrant Stained Glass Visions of Comfort

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