UnderSee Margie Kelk

The Red Head Gallery is pleased to present UnderSee, an exhibition of new works by artist Margie Kelk.

Recent expeditions to Iceland, Newfoundland, and Antarctica have instilled in Margie Kelk a passionate appreciation for the natural environment and the flora and fauna which inhabit it. Our planet is undergoing a warming trend, caused by human initiatives, that is proving to be destructive of life in our Arctic and Antarctic seas. Many marine animals simply cannot adapt to warmer water. Marine invertebrates will also die out due to the acidification of the oceans caused by high amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide absorbed into the water. Direct results of human industrial activity, high amounts of carbon dioxide dissolved in the sea water produce lower levels of carbonates such as aragonite and calcite, which are necessary building blocks in the skeletons or shells of many marine animals. Krill, which lie at the bottom of the food chain, may not survive. With their disappearance, many animals from birds to fish to whales, will not find food. The entire food chain will be adversely affected. Jellyfish are the one invertebrate that may survive, as they have no shells or skeletons that require calcium carbonate as a building material. If humankind continues to pursue activities adverse to ocean ecology, the seas may hold a plethora of jellyfish, and jellyfish only.