Inspired by the ongoing effort to preserve the Crow’s Nest peninsula, Scarlett Pons-Suhy, a member of “Save Crow’s Nest” produced a photographic collage piece entitled “60 Acres a Day.”   Her artwork was recently awarded first prize in the mixed media category as part of “Uniquely Fredericksburg,” a juried art exhibit.

As she says in her artist statement for the piece, “Sixty Acres a Day was inspired by all the development that is happening in our area. Therefore, I wanted to create a piece where the traditional contrasted the new. The layout of Sixty Acres a Day is a traditional pinwheel quilt pattern that is constructed out of photographs taken of local construction sites.”  In assembling the images for the piece, Pons-Suhy notes, “The most surprising realization that I made […] is the amount of destruction that occurs to create this new semi-urban landscape that Fredericksburg is quickly becoming.   The amount of dump trucks and 18 wheelers carrying freshly cut trees and construction equipment is astounding. The progress of leveling our hills for a new fast food restaurant or super store that already exists twice over in a 20 mile radius is overwhelming. It’s the pace really that is hard to grasp. I have to ask, ‘Is it worth it?’ Replacing our dogwoods and cedars, our wildflowers and cardinals for another pharmacy? According to my research if we continue developing the way we have been we will be destroying an average of sixty acres a day in the Commonwealth.”

You can learn more about the work of Scarlett Pons-Suhy and her husband, Gabriel, at their website, ponshopstudio.com.