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12 × 12 × 1.5 inches Gouache painting on wood panel
Kenichiro Chaffee: There are few better feelings than walking along the beach and stumbling upon tide pools. A true gift from the ocean, tide pools give us a glimpse of utopia. Despite a harsh and constantly changing environment from the moon’s gravitational pull, each pool creates a tiny jewel box of diverse characters with their own specialized functions and skillsets. These microcommunities support each other, provide housing for one another, and operate in harmony with one another.
Imagine if us humans spent our time (and tax dollars) building communities that were as diverse, beautiful, and functional as tide pools. In the US, we constantly build massive suburban sprawls without adequate housing, public transportation, or access to fresh food. If instead we operated more like a tidepool, where we value our neighbors, our community, and our relationship to nature, we could really thrive.
There are lessons to learn within the cyclical nature of tidepools as well. The ebb and flow of the tides are out of the pool’s inhabitants control, they must simply react and adapt. There are times for feeding and exploring and there is a time to slow down and rest. The tide cycle is like our seasons on hyperdrive. In our late stage capitalistic societies, we often forget to slow down, to rest, to take time to look inward. We are encouraged to keep working, keep consuming, and keep grinding. However, much like how a barnacle shuts its doors to the outside world when the tide recedes, we also need to make time for ourselves to rest and recharge during the darker, colder months of our year.
Ultimately tidepools give us a place to reflect on the power of community. There is no individualism in tidepools. There is no every man for themselves mentality. It is everyone working together to create harmony in a chaotic and ever-changing world.
12 × 12 × 1.5 inches Gouache painting on wood panel
Kenichiro Chaffee: There are few better feelings than walking along the beach and stumbling upon tide pools. A true gift from the ocean, tide pools give us a glimpse of utopia. Despite a harsh and constantly changing environment from the moon’s gravitational pull, each pool creates a tiny jewel box of diverse characters with their own specialized functions and skillsets. These microcommunities support each other, provide housing for one another, and operate in harmony with one another.
Imagine if us humans spent our time (and tax dollars) building communities that were as diverse, beautiful, and functional as tide pools. In the US, we constantly build massive suburban sprawls without adequate housing, public transportation, or access to fresh food. If instead we operated more like a tidepool, where we value our neighbors, our community, and our relationship to nature, we could really thrive.
There are lessons to learn within the cyclical nature of tidepools as well. The ebb and flow of the tides are out of the pool’s inhabitants control, they must simply react and adapt. There are times for feeding and exploring and there is a time to slow down and rest. The tide cycle is like our seasons on hyperdrive. In our late stage capitalistic societies, we often forget to slow down, to rest, to take time to look inward. We are encouraged to keep working, keep consuming, and keep grinding. However, much like how a barnacle shuts its doors to the outside world when the tide recedes, we also need to make time for ourselves to rest and recharge during the darker, colder months of our year.
Ultimately tidepools give us a place to reflect on the power of community. There is no individualism in tidepools. There is no every man for themselves mentality. It is everyone working together to create harmony in a chaotic and ever-changing world.