Calla Beers

ABOUT ME

My name is Calla Beers and I am majoring in environmental science as well as art and design at the University of Michigan and will receive my degrees this spring. While both programs provide a comprehensive curriculum, my emphasis is on water resource management and photography and illustration respectively. Growing up in the Great Lakes area has inspired my passion for nature, particularly aquatic environments that are the most impacted by climate change. I hope to use the tools I have gained at Michigan to bring attention to anthropogenic environmental challenges and continue exploring and sharing my curiosity about our environment. It is a privilege to be able to contribute to and explore the intrinsic scientific, historic, and aesthetic value of our natural world.

THE STURGEON

My intention creating this work was to express the initial chaos but also serenity I first expereinced viewing juvenile lake sturgeon in a hatchery. This was my introduction to the species and the density and number of fish elicited an interest in fish and aquatic ecosystems that is present in much of my work.The swirling pattern creates order juxtaposed against the discomfort of the offcenter composition. The monotones used with the whimsical media of oil pastels also contributes to the sense of unease and harmony that defines the duality of fish, which can seem beautiful and disturbing in their otherworldliness.

ALASKAN MOUNTAINS

A photo of the mountains near Juneau, Alaska. Taken the day before the summer solstice, this image captures the near constant light supplied to the higher latitudes as the Earth's axial tilt brings summer to the northern hemisphere. Even taken at 9:45 PM, the sun is still above the oppostite horizon from the moon.

THE CREEK

This was taken in Grand Beach Michigan near where I grew up, only a quick jaunt arount the bottom of Lake Michigan to Chicago. This image is an example of creek bifurcation where the stream seperates into two or more distributaries. In this case, however, the cause of diversion is usually sand pails and shovels.

THE MAIZE OF ANN ARBOR

This photo collage combines the facades of unique and iconic buildings from around Ann Arbor and the University of Michigan campus. This work was selected for the 2017 Stamps Undergraduate Juried Exhibition as well as the 2018/19 Arts in the Legislature Program where it was displayed in Michigan's House of Representatives building in Lansing.

YELLOW

I was inspired to take this photo after opening a fortune cookie that suggested to "focus in on the yellow." This crumpled oak leaf and a bright backdrop of mums seemed like the perfect observance of the fates.

CHICAGO SKYLINE

On a clear day at sunset, those standing on Lake Michigan's eastern shore at the southwest tip of Michigan can see Chicago's silhouette on the opposite shore. Using collected stones from the beach, I made this rock collage depicting the familiar skyline.

FEATHER

This double exposure image demonstrates the duality of the natural and the affected, soft and hard, the organic and inorganic. The image of the feather was taken in Mackinac Island while the steel beams are a part of the Michigan City rotating railroad bridge.

SOPHMORE STUDIO

This image was part of an investigation of the relationship between myself and nature where images taken of small natural objects were manipulated digitally to explore my personal impact on the environment.

SPRING IN THE ARB

I found these ice capped pods of vegitation emerging from the frozen banks of the Huron River in March. Despite searching, I haven't been able to identify the plant, although a fellow photogapher on the trail did tell me that I was right on time for "The Migration," explaining the seemingly hundreds of canadian geese and swans intent on warning me away from the shore.

PIER

These wooden pilings stand next to the ferry jetty at South Manitou Island, offshore of Michigan's Leelanau Penninsula, which was settled in the mid-1830s and provided a natural harbor and wood fuel source for steamships traveling between Buffalo and Chicago.

SHORT NOSE

This watercolor depicts a shortnose sturgeon, Acipenser brevirostrum. This species is currently listed on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species due to their valuable roe. Traditionally, caviar is only harvested from sturgeon species when the female is mature, at least six years old for the shortnose. This long maturation period combined with the value of this gourmet food has lead to restirctions of sturgeon fishing for many species across the globe.

CORAL INFO GRAPHIC

I created this infogrpahic to highlight some of the urgent threats facing our reefs ecosystems around the globe. This work was made with an aggregation of watercolor, collage, and digital techniques.

BERRIES IN SNOW

I made this work by arranging berries collected on a walk through the woods in the freshly fallen snow. This project signifies the beauty of the inherent ephemerality found in nature.

EXPERIMENT IN COLOR

This work was derived from following the contraints "eyes", "oil pastel", and "cut." These limitations enabled students in the class to deconstruct the typical avenues of their creative process to focus on the individal and the reciprocative nature of color.

EXTIRPATED ORGANISMS OF MICHIGAN

The project I am currently working on is an elephant folio categorizing at risk species within Michigan to both celebrate the amazing natural beauty of the state I grew up in as well target the anthropogenic threats to the landscape. These illustrations of Brychius hungerfordi and Nerodia erythogaster neglecta represent only a few of the many species that may disappear from Michigan.

DRAGONFLY EXUVIA

This photo was captured in June when dragonfly exuvia littered the beaches around Douglas Lake, the location of the University of Michigan Biological Station. Dragonfly nymphs shed these hard exoskeletons before emerging as adults. The word exuviae in latin actually means "things stripped from a body."

EXPERIMENT IN LIGHT

This work was created by experimenting with colored, translucent, film sheets over lights. This abstracted image serves as an investigation into light, movement, and color.

FORT GEORGE

Fort George was built in 1747 to replace the previous Fort George that was blown up after the Fourty-five rebellion. This bartizan looks across Moray Firth and demonstrates the stratigic location of the fort that established control of the waterways to Inverness.

TWIGS IN SNOW

I made this work by arranging twigs collected on a walk through the woods in the freshly fallen snow. This project signifies the beauty of the inherent ephemerality found in nature.

CEPHALON

This cephalon, or the head section of an arthropod, was found under a dock while snorkeling in Belize. The two pairs of long antennae and eyes are still attached to the brightly colored shell.

RADIOLOGY

This image was creating using a juvenile lake sturgeon specimen from the University of Michigan Research Museum Center and x-ray equipment from The University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center. The x-ray shows the hard, bony plates called scutes along a stugeon's dorsal side.

EASTPORT

From a beach in Eastport, Michigan, one can look across Grand Traverse Bay to the sun setting over Northport on the Leelanau Penninsula. The bay is about 10 miles across and up to 620 feet deep in some of its "kettles" left behind by retreating glaciers.

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