Artwork copyright Deborah Mersky. Photo courtesy of The Evergreen State College, by Ann Friedman.

Artwork copyright Deborah Mersky. Photo courtesy of The Evergreen State College, by Ann Friedman.

Artwork copyright Deborah Mersky. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission.

Plant Chain, 2005

Deborah Mersky
(American, born 1955)

Location: The Evergreen State College, Olympia

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Deborah Mersky's Plant Chain features local native plants linked together with a chain. The artwork suggests connections between past and present, nature and science. The plant imagery is like bouquets but they are contrasted by the chains surrounding them. It also references The Evergreen State College’s nearby teaching garden of medicinal plants. Local native plants such as Devil's Club, Camas Lily, Fiddle Head Fern, Sword Fern, and Horsetail are all featured.

Text from the 1854 Treaty of Medicine Creek is found on some of the leaves and flowers. This treaty document was signed a few miles away on the Nisqually River Delta in southern Puget Sound. It established the system of reservation lands for Native American people and outlined Native American hunting and fishing rights. The treaty also greatly affected and limited the local Salish communities, both then and now.

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with The Evergreen State College.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Artist Deborah Mersky creates artworks in a variety of media, including painting, prints, and large-scale public installations. She notes, "The overlapping worlds of nature and human habitation on earth is what interests me, particularly the delicate, off kilter moment we currently reside in."

Deborah Mersky grew up in Austin, Texas, lived in Seattle for many years, and now lives near Johnson City, Texas. She earned a Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of Washington in Seattle and has been exhibiting her work since 1980.