Artwork copyright Michael Southern. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Eroded Land at Sheep Rock, 1997

Michael Southern
(American, born 1968)

Location: Tumwater High School, Tumwater

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Eroded Land at Sheep Rock is a realistic etching created by artist Michael Southern. His imagery captures rich contrasting patterns in the landscape and sky. Sheep Rock is located in the John Day Fossil Beds National Monument in Eastern 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 Tumwater 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.