Wetumpka Impact Crater

 

More than 85 million years ago, during the Cretaceous Period, a large meteor impacted the area now known as Wetumpka, Alabama.  The impact resulted in a crater approximately five miles in diameter causing significant changes to both the landscape of the area and the inhabitants of both land and sea.  At that time, the Wetumpka area was largely covered by an inland sea with barrier islands, and the climate was very different from today.  The Wetumpka Impact Crater is regarded as one of the best preserved marine impact craters in the world. 

 

In 2015 I curated "When Dinosaurs Roamed: The Wetumpka Impact Crater at the Kelly Fitzpatrick Memorial Gallery in Wetumpka, Alabama.  The exhibition, funded by the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts included works by professional paleoartists and artists, a lecture series, a juried call for entries, educational storyboards, a Cretaceous a fossil exhibit and plant exhibit, docent led tours and studio activities for school age students.  To learn more about the Wetumpka Impact crater and the exhibition please visit the website at http://artquest.wix.com/wetumpkacraterart

 

My own work, focusing on the Wetumpka Impact Crater and the Cretaceous time period draws from a variety of my series and the range of work includes realism, symbolism and abstraction.  My interest in this exploration includes the inhabitants of the time (land and marine life,) the effects of the actual impact on the landscape and inhabitants, fossils found in the impact area and cosmological events and effects.       More...