Drifted Glass

Encaustic and paper on wood panel 36 x 36" 2026 "This piece began with an exploration—developing both a palette and a process to capture the soft, translucent quality of sea glass, like the pieces found while beachcombing. The layered greens reflect the tones I remember so vividly from childhood. Those colors have a complicated origin. They are the result of discarded glass—once thrown into the ocean from the nearby military presence at Fort Bragg, California. Over time, the ocean transformed that debris, tumbling and softening it into something unexpectedly beautiful. Years later, those worn fragments came to define the shoreline. One beach in particular—Glass Beach—became known for its surface of smooth, sea-polished glass. Located in Noyo Headlands Park in Northern California, it is covered not in sand, but in small, light-catching pieces of colored glass.There are actually three Glass Beach sites in Fort Bragg, where refuse was dumped into the ocean between 1906 and 1967. Site Two (1943–1949) and Site Three (1949–1967)—now commonly referred to as “Glass Beach”—are where much of this transformation took place. This piece reflects that paradox: the quiet beauty that can emerge over time, shaped by memory, environment, and the steady, patient movement of the sea." -Lisa Moriarty