Field Notes II
Saturday, June 4, 202210:00 a.m. to Saturday, July 9, 20225:00 p.m.
Christine Klassen Gallery
321 50 Avenue SoutheastCalgary, AB, T2G 2G3Canada
CKG is pleased to announce an exhibition of new work by Edmonton area artist, Lisa Matthias.
The latest prints from 2022 are oversized botanical studies of the little-known microscopic world of Sphagnum mosses. Sphagnum mosses, or peat mosses, are a diverse and ecologically important group of plants that create peatlands – a kind of wetland that is abundant in boreal regions across Alberta and the Northern Hemisphere. These habitats hold a tremendous amount of potential for climate change mitigation through their carbon storage. Sphagnum decomposes very slowly, accumulating massive reserves of un-decomposed plant material (or peat) over millennia. This sequesters more carbon than any other ecosystem type on land, and Canada has some of the largest peatland carbon stores in the world. In collaboration with a bryologist (a scientist who studies mosses and liverworts), Lisa dissected specimens of several common sphagnum species from Alberta peatlands, and translated those into large woodblock prints. These botanical portraits explore the beautiful and fascinating cellular structures that distinguish Sphagnum mosses.