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. In 2019 she created several series of paintings and woodcuts that represent these places using images of land masses, waterways, ocean currents, and large river deltas. In this new work she investigates mapping as an artform by selecting physical features of a place and eliminating the complexity of characteristics not relevant to conveying a message or metaphor. This process allows her to represent the powerful effects of climate change through visual mapping in various forms.

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