Mel Watkin
Works-on-paper
Over the past three years, I have repurposed envelopes containing bills, bank statement and other information requiring privacy into a series of works on security paper. My work is strongly influenced by the environments I am working in and my environmental concerns. The mountains surrounding the Ucross Foundation in Wyoming, where I had a residency, appear in some works, along with the Shawnee National Forest surrounding my old farmhouse in Southern Illinois. The rust belt industrial buildings of St. Louis, my home-away-from-home, also play a role. Most of the works involve bird silhouettes. The well-being of birds looms large in my life as my home lies along one of the largest migratory bird routes in the country—the Cache River Flyway.