Valerie Eickmeier explores themes of environment, landscape, water, and human impact on nature. Her long-term interest in these topics eventually grew to focus on juxtaposing the wholeness of an environment with snapshots of distinct places, atmospheric qualities, and moments in time. Since 2019, she has created several series of paintings and woodcuts that represent places and weather events using satellite images of land masses, waterways, ocean currents, and large river deltas. This process allows her to imbed scientific data in a visually expressive way. In this new work she investigates mapping as an art form by selecting physical features of a geographic area to convey a message or metaphor about the powerful effects of climate change.

Eickmeier is Professor of Fine Arts, Dean Emeritus at Herron School of Art & Design and a two-time Arts Council Creative Renewal Arts Fellow.

Valerie Eickmeier, Static Earth (detail), oil on wood panel, 2019