Susan Bercu
Garden Totems and Flower Pots
Environmental Sketchbook
We are all under the same sky. We humans are not separate from the earth but part of it. In my sketchbook, I travel the terrain with brush and pen to record the details as accurately as I can. I may insert my hands and feet. I walk barefoot on the dirt to feel nature’s pulse. My hand frames the trees, casts a bird shadow. I try to practice the teachings of “Tikkun Olam”, a Hebrew phrase translated as “repair the tear in the world”. Each person is an entire world. Each tikkun reverberates through the rest of the world with the potential to change everything. This environmental sketchbook with its 60 pages is my tikkun.
The environment has been the focus of my art for decades. I learned to respect our planet from my father, a hydraulics engineer dedicated to ecological principles. When I was five, we lived at the edge of a woods in Alexandria, Virginia. With my hand in his, he guided me on enchanting walks where he offered me a taste of honeysuckle; led me to gently stroke the sensitive plant and marvel at how the leaves curled. I thought the yellow buttercups were made of butter. These loving interactions are embodied deep within me.
My home in Santa Rosa, CA backs up to Badger Creek banked by trees where recent wildfires roared and where seasonal heavy rains create waterfalls in what is usually a dry stoney bed. I observe deer, wild turkeys, birds, bees, butterflies, rabbits, squirrels, lizards and sometimes, fox, racoon, possum and skunk that populate my yard. Goat Rock Beach and Armstrong Woods further provide subjects for this sketchbook.
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Pages from the Environmental Sketchbook for Eco-Art Caucus (Environmental Caucus within the Women's Caucus for Art)