Artwork copyright Michael Southern. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission, 2017.

Artwork copyright Michael Southern. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Cloudy Water, Tryon Creek, 1996

Michael Southern
American (born 1968)

Location: South Whidbey High School, Langley

About the Artwork

Cloudy Water, Tryon Creek is a print created by artist Michael Southern. He based this image on his experience in the woods of Tryon Creek State Park, located south of Portland, Oregon. He notes, "My work is about my time in the natural world. I go into the landscape many times before I begin to draw. This initial interaction is the courting period. We are getting to know each other before things get too serious. I usually take photographs, do some sketches and generally spend time in the place. […] I have often described the prints that I make as devotionals to the place."

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with South Whidbey School District.

About the Artist

Michael Southern is a Portland, Oregon-based artist and printmaker. The natural landscape inspires his figurative paintings and prints. He describes his body of work as " an ongoing investigation into finding our place within the natural world."
Southern earned a bachelor's degree in fine art and natural history from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts in 1990. He taught at several outdoor schools before he earning a Master of Fine Arts degree in printmaking from the University of Georgia in 1995. A long-time resident of Portland, he lived briefly in New Zealand from 2009 to 2012.