CORALESCENCE

On the East End of Long Island, New York, I meet with Pete Topping, Executive Director of Peconic Baykeeper, whose work spans oyster restoration and water quality monitoring. In this conversation we move into the near planktonic realm of marine life and talk about algae blooms, dinoflagellates, the strange luminous phenomena that sometimes appear in the bays of Long Island, and his work as Baykeeper. This conversation is part of the exhibition REGENERATION: Long Island’s History of Ecological Art and Care at the Parrish Art Museum. It connects to my broader inquiry into the hidden micro worlds of the ocean and their role in coastal ecosystems, which informs my current sculpture at the Parrish, Are We Psychic Coral-Polyps?, a gathering place for shared learning, collectivity, and ecosystem regeneration.

At the edge of Miami’s beautiful Virginia Key, I’m joined in this conversation by Dalton Hesley at the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, alongside my Miami-based artist collaborator Beatriz Chachamovits. Together, we talk about corals, symbiosis, and why collaboration matters in the face of the climate crisis. We explore how science and art can learn to work together, how knowledge is strengthened through community, and how becoming a little more coral-like in our relationships to one another can help us imagine more resilient ways forward. 

Join me in conversation with Melanie Prentice, research associate at the University of British Columbia and the Hakai Institute, and one of the lead researchers who helped unravel the mystery of the Sea Star Wasting Disease. In this conversation we particularly focus on the magnificent sunflower sea star, Pycnopodia. As the wasting disease spread up the pacific coast from California to Canada, more than 90% of these amazing sea stars were wiped out in epidemic proportions. We will talk with Melanie about her role in this groundbreaking discovery, the creativity that happens inside the lab, the ecological importance of the sunflower sea stars as a keystone species and what comes next.The conversation on this episode is part of my 2025 artist residency at Willapa Bay, on the coastal peninsula of Washington State.  Thank you Willapa Bay Artist in Residence for gift of time and expansive studio space, and for inviting me to be in residence this August session.

At the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium,  artist Randi Renate meets with Mitch Carl, the curator of aquatics and Lindsey Condray, senior aquarist and coral husbandry specialist working in conversation and care of the aquarium's many corals and projects. Following an extensive behind the scenes tour of their many scientific investigations in the fields of genetics, reproductive physiology, medicine, and more, listen in depth about their conservation projects, groundbreaking research, and discoveries happening at the Omaha aquarium. This conversations are a part of Randi Renate's 2023 Bemis Center Artist Residency. This episode, and the following, will focus on stories happening in the midwest and how, even far from the oceans coast, an emphasis on care for our waters, ocean habitats and ecosystems remain as a strong narrative in sustaining these delicate systems against climate change.

Explore the ecology of a small island where the Long Island Sound meets the Atlantic Ocean. These series of conversations produced on Fishers Island in New York State will focus on the island's native ecosphere and the relationships the occupants have have with its coastal landscape, unpacking these vital connections through oyster farming, natural clay harvesting,  and bioluminescent occurrences. Artist Randi Renate will join the Fishers Island Oyster Farm, speaking with farm growout technician Sabrina Lyall and farm founder Steve Malinoski, with concluding conversations with museum director Pierce Rafferty of the Henry L Ferguson on the clays of New York, and the historical important of ceramic on the island. The conversations on this episode are part of Randi Renate's 2022 fellowship at Lighthouse Works on Fishers Island, NY. Lighthouse Works connects artists, writers, choreographers, and composers to Fishers Island and provides them with a unique supportive context within which to focus on their work. 

In this conversation, the artist Randi Renate speaks with Alannah Vellacott, a marine ecologist, science communicator and ocean advocate. As a Bahamian living in a small community that bordered an expansive mangrove creek system, Alannah grew up with the ocean as the backdrop to her childhood.  This episode's studio visit will explore Alannah's narrative on how she came to be a prominent advocate for coral reefs and ocean health, and her current work as a Coral Restoration Specialist at Coral Vita, an operative coral farm in Grand Bahama.  These conversations are part of Randi Renate’s 2022 fellowship at Socrates Sculpture Park in New York City, curated by Jess Wilcox. Inspired by the anatomy and symbiotic existence of coral polyps, Renate’s sustainably sourced, cedar-clad hollow is a space for collective gathering and learning. Coral are potent symbols in narratives about climate change. Rising temperatures and ocean acidification have produced massive die-offs of this fragile ecosystem, which is also the most biodiverse on the planet. The coral’s cooperative mode of thriving–a colony of many individual polyps together acting as a united creature–is a potential model for slowing global warming and repairing the damage we have already done to our planet.

Dive into the conservation work of Coral Vita, an operative Coral Farm based in Grand Bahama that is focusing on coral restoration, growing corals to restore dying reefs through microfragmentation and assisted evolution. In this conversation, the artist Randi Renate will be speaking with three different specialists at the farm: Co-Founder of Coral Vita and chief reef officer Sam Teicher, coral technician Oshiko Riley and coral restoration specialist Allanah Vellacot. This episode’s studio visit will take us around Coral Vita’s farm and explain their process of growing small fragments of coral, the outplanting process and what you can do to help save this important ecosystem. These conversations are part of Randi Renate’s 2022 fellowship at Socrates Sculpture Park in New York City, curated by Jess Wilcox. Inspired by the anatomy and symbiotic existence of coral polyps, Renate’s sustainably sourced, cedar-clad hollow is a space for collective gathering and learning. Coral are potent symbols in narratives about climate change. Rising temperatures and ocean acidification have produced massive die-offs of this fragile ecosystem, which is also the most biodiverse on the planet. The coral’s cooperative mode of thriving–a colony of many individual polyps together acting as a united creature–is a potential model for slowing global warming and repairing the damage we have already done to our planet.