Artist Statement
Nature is the essence of the poems and photos that reflect my vision of the world; sense of place and its beauty particularly attract and sustain me. When the man-made part of life is unmanageable, nature thrives and endures, maintaining my sanity. But even these sea stars, grasping onto rocks at Whaleshead Beach in Southern Oregon have been challenged, suffering over the last few years—after this photo was taken— from a wasting disease, likely a densovirus, in which the echinoderms melted and lost their arms. Much of the Pacific Coast population has been decimated, and it has only been recently that a few young sea stars are returning to the rocks—and they seem healthy!
Artist Bio
Marianne Werner has published poems/essays/photos in Empirical, Earth Island Journal (online), River Poets Journal, Minerva Rising, Written River, among others. Her photos are available at Fine Art America. She lives in Chico, CA and Southern Oregon.
