The swollen Great Lakes during 2019 and 2020 had record lake elevation levels creating significant erosion along the lakeshore. Each erosion episode left intricate patterns in the sand as walls erode and cave in. I chronicled the episodes with pictures through the lens of my camera. They felt like an ancient archaeological find coated in brown sugar. The next day the pattern is gone. The famous photographer Jay Maisel said, “As people, we love pattern. But interrupted pattern is more interesting.” The dictionary describes “shifting sands” as something that changes frequently making it difficult to make plans. That was life for many of us in the year 2020. Sand shows us the detail, the wonder, the beauty we have been gifted. When the pattern is interrupted we pay attention. We use it as an opportunity to bring things into focus. While dealing with erosion and change looking through the lens of the camera we can renew our wonder with something as simple as a grain of sand. It reminded me that sometimes change, erosion, setbacks are beneficial. They force us to see things from a new perspective, in a new light, from a different angle and it opens the door to renewal. “ADrift” will exhibit during Art Prize https://artprize.org/ at the https://tinyurl.com/43vdp348 Hyatt Downtown Grand Rapids this fall.
