Tia Flores, Candace Nicol Garlock, Ashley Gottlieb, Bobbie Ann Howell, and Robin Stark

Pollinators: Gifts of Chance in the Desert

Pollinators are the unsung laborers of our world. While often underestimated, pollinators play a significant role in the balance of our ecosystem. Agriculture, food supplies, and landscapes would collapse without the hard work of pollinators. Birds, bees, butterflies, wind, rain, waterways, and other small creatures help pollinate the world’s plantlife, thereby continuing the existence of nature, and, by extension, us.

Pollinators: Gifts of Chance in the Desert is an exhibition of work by five Nevada-based artists who seek to uplift and celebrate the pollinators that give ongoing life to their great state. While much of Nevada remains unfit for human habitation, the landscape is far from barren and far from worthless in the grand scheme of our planet – all thanks to the relatively unseen work involved in pollination.

Pollination, much like the artistic process, is largely a game of chance. Pollinators are, perhaps, not all together cognizant of the effects of their actions, such as the bee eating pollen and haphazardly bringing his leftovers to another flower, or the hungry squirrel accidentally dropping seeds across the forest floor while bringing food back to her burrow. While artists may strive to be in control of their process and outcomes, the most exhilarating part of creativity is often when one relinquishes control and allows instinct and play to take the lead. The concept of chance in both pollination and the artistic process served as a secondary guidepost for the artists during the preparation of this exhibition.

Similar to the diversity among pollinator types and the diversity of the terrain throughout the vast state of Nevada, these artists work in diverse mediums and styles, including ceramics, printmaking, painting, pyrography, cut paper drawings, and sculpture. While each artist’s work explores her unique relationship with various pollinators, their combined works come together to form a symphony of gratitude for these hard workers and for the gift of life they help provide.