Marsh Sense

Heather McMordie is an artist and printmaker currently making prints, puzzles and paper installations informed by soil science. Her work finds balance between artistic and scientific exploration, and seeks to visualize the complex patterns and processes of soil systems.

Heather received her MFA in Printmaking from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), and her BFA from the University of Pennsylvania. Recent projects have been developed through field explorations and collaborations in Rhode Island, USA and Surama Village, Guyana. Her work has been exhibited in galleries and museums nationally including recent inclusion in exhibits at the RISD Museum, the National Museum of Wildlife Art, and the Schuylkill Center for Environmental Education.

In Marsh Senses, depictions of geological textures, coastal blue carbon storage capacity, Salt Marsh Sparrow and mussel populations, root density and native grasses are parsed out into unique textile designs. When quilted together, these textiles become abstract visual representations of a healthy salt marsh soil system. In an effort to further engage viewers in a more active understanding of human impact on these systems, viewers are invited to walk through, reposition, and sit on the cushions. The cushions—stuffed with recycled memory foam and paper—crunch and softly depress underfoot, and slowly become covered with the footprints and bolidly impressions of the viewer.

Presented on October 30th, 2020 for the NYC Urban Soil Institute's 5th Annual Urban Soils symposium, titled Soils: The Living Fabric of Health.