At the intersection of art, ecology, and inquiry, Kimberly Ritchie’s work invites viewers to slow down and look closely at the natural world. Ritchie uses printmaking and natural materials to explore environmental fragility, resilience, and uncertainty. Featuring works inspired by endangered New England plant species alongside imagined, yet-to-be-discovered forms, the exhibition opens a contemplative space where scientific knowledge, artistic imagination, and environmental stewardship converge.

Kimberly Ritchie is an Associate Professor of Art at Plymouth State University and the Coordinator of the Drawing, Painting, and Printmaking Programs. She received her Master of Fine Arts in Printmaking from Colorado State University in Fort Collins and her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina.

Ritchie’s artistic practice centers on a wide range of environmental issues, expressed through paper and printmaking processes, installation work, and the use of natural materials. She has taught, exhibited, and participated in artist residencies across the United States and internationally in Sweden, Iceland, Greece, and China.

Gallery Opening: Fading Flora
Tuesday, January 13 | 6:00 to 8:00 PM
Edwards Art Gallery

Environmental Questions, Material Responses

Ritchie is continually researching, collecting, and exploring the natural world. Her curiosity, concern, and respect for the environment guide her creative work. Her current projects focus on anthropocentric environmental concerns — from air pollution’s effects on lichen, to the impacts of global climate change on ecosystems and human civilizations, to society’s dependence on plastics. Some pieces use these issues as points of departure, while others address them more directly.

Through her image-making process, Ritchie aims to bring the beauty, mystery, and fragility of the natural world back into daily awareness. Her artwork serves as a means of internalizing the environment and expressing her ongoing concern for its conservation.

Known Species, Unknown Futures

The works in this exhibition focus on both endangered plant species native to New England and imagined, yet-to-be-discovered species. For the endangered species works, each piece begins with a cut-out stencil derived from plants listed as endangered in the region. Ritchie develops the final images by abstracting and layering these forms through cyanotype and silkscreen processes.

The works depicting undiscovered species combine silkscreen, cyanotype, relief printing, and drawing to explore the unknown dimensions of Earth’s systems. These pieces emphasize the limits of current scientific knowledge and suggest that many species remain undiscovered.