Artist and photographer, Catherine Chalmers, refers to working as “part of an art collective”, referring to her colleagues which are normally overlooked, feared, and defined as pests. Leaf cutter ants, cockroaches, bark beetles, and rodents to name a few.
Chalmers’ work combines art, science and nature through extensive research in natural habitats and ecosystems around the world.
Pictured above and below, Beetle Carvings represent the destructive patterns of bark beetles engraved into conifer trees. Each of the hundreds of beetle species creates a destructive yet unique design also used by scientists to identify them. Click each photo below to see Chalmer’s full images and a detailed section of select works.
Chalmers photographed the beetle affected landscapes and intricate carvings the beetles left behind in the bark of the trees. In collaboration with Laumont’s UV printing department, Catherine supplied gessoed wood panels in which we used our SwissQ Impala UV printer to print directly to each panel and then hand applied a glossy spray varnish to the surface. Chalmers then hand carved the bark beetle patterns directly into the printed surface mimicking the pathways found in the bark.
Read more about these pieces and more about Chalmer’s her work at Conifer Trees, Bark Beetles & Fire.
Photos courtesy of the artist.
