Root Protection Zone

Root Protection Zone is a collaborative exhibition of works by Sacramento-based visual artist Kerry Cottle and Boulder Creek-based interdisciplinary artist Laura DeAngelis. The exhibition showcases a conversation between the artists and their ancestors through a multi-sensory experience of earth-centered artworks. Cottle and DeAngelis both examine their origins in regards to place and land, and what that means for contemporary, itinerant beings living within systems that seek to uproot and disconnect us from belonging to the earth. Through work made with soil, minerals, plants, and commercially produced art materials, the artists integrate ancient with contemporary, "natural" with "synthetic" both in material and in symbolism. Symbols and iconography that are unique to each artist and their respective cultural identities converge throughout the show, illuminating threads that connect the two artists as multifaceted human beings on a profoundly and beautifully diverse planet.