Words and artwork by katherine sandoz
Colonies of seaweed populate all the world’s oceans, but it is an algae, not a weed. Classified as brown, red and green, find it only where light can reach it. Generally, it attaches itself to the bottom of the littoral zone – that’s “near the shore” if you’re no Cousteau. If not the bottom-adhering variety, it’s the kind that has bubble-like gas-filled bladders that helps the plant structure maintain a depth supporting photosynthesis.
Seaweed, whether farmed or found, serves as food, fertilizer, medicine, and shows up in paint, glue, cosmetics and even your toothpaste. It may one day become a biofuel source. Dieting folks swear by some of its compounds saying that it staves off hunger and makes one feel satisfied. Scientists and artists can’t get enough of the stuff due to its copious and complex properties and looks. These floating sea tangles suggest beauty, mystery and innovation on every blade.
Last, if you care for none of the above, and have no need for the utilitarian, you can ditch your maillot, fashion a suit of seaweed, lock your legs together and discover the ocean floor as a mermaid.
 Katherine Sandoz is a multi-media artist who illustrates, paints and creates daily in her barn studio in Vernonburg, Georgia.Whether working conceptually, representationally or abstractly, Sandoz tells and enhances stories and highlight themes for contemporary authors, fashion and industry influencers, editors, event planners, businesses and non-profits.
Her paintings and fibers works exhibit and have been installed worldwide. She advocates for arts education and public art through her collaboration with schools, organizations and Savannah-based artists. |
