New Exhibition at CIMM: Pulled From the Brink of Extinction

Come experience captivating selections from Ventura based artist d truthsayer's exclusive series featuring hide and seek glimpses of threatened animals made from materials found by the artist in their environment.

Sneak Preview of Pulled from the Brink of Extinction at CIMM

by Chet Scerra

In this compelling exhibition, artist d truthsayer invites viewers into a world where art and environment merge in surprising and beautiful ways. Her works portray endangered and threatened species but what makes these pieces truly remarkable is how they are created. Visitors entering the gallery quickly discover that these works are far more than paintings. Truthsayer gathers materials from the landscapes and shorelines these animals inhabit and transforms them into the images themselves. Sand becomes fur, fisherman’s ties becomes ocean light, burned twigs become shadow. Each composition becomes both portrait and environment, a delicate merging of art and ecology.

One of the exhibition’s most compelling works centers on the Sunflower Sea Star, a remarkable creature once common in Pacific kelp forests. With dozens of arms and eyes at the tip of each, these swift-moving sea stars were powerful predators that kept purple sea urchins in check. When disease and warming seas devastated their numbers, urchins multiplied rapidly, grazing away the vast kelp forests that support over one thousand marine species and help protect coastal ecosystems. Truthsayer translates this dramatic ecological story directly into her artwork. Using materials gathered along the Ventura coastline...kelp, mosses, sand, driftwood, fragments of rope, and even pigment derived from purple sea urchins...she constructs a vivid, layered seascape. A striking red fisherman’s rope divides the scene between flourishing kelp forest and the stark “urchin barrens,” while coastal flowers form the radiating body of the sea star itself. The piece feels almost sculptural, rising from the canvas as both portrait and ecosystem...an arresting visual reminder that the fate of entire kelp forests can hinge on the survival of a single remarkable species.

At first glance the works appear painterly, but a closer look reveals the intricate layering of earth, water, and organic matter that gives each piece its depth and vitality. The delicate Snowy Plover stands amid sand and sea-washed fragments that reflect the fragile world of the shoreline. The Kemp’s Ridley Sea Turtle rises from ocean textures created with charcoal, crushed stone, and woven plant forms. In the lush forests of the Philippines, the Writhed-Billed Hornbill appears with its sheltered fledgling, evoking the species’ extraordinary nesting ritual in which the mother seals herself within a tree cavity while the male feeds her through a narrow opening.

Nearby, the Bleeding-Heart Dove barely emerges from the leaves and berries of its forest floor habitat, its striking crimson breast marking both beauty and vulnerability. A Ringed Map Turtle rests within swirling patterns made by Spanish moss and river sand from the Pearl River, echoing the distinctive whorls of its unusual shell. And the ancient Lake Sturgeon, a survivor from the age of dinosaurs, rises from textures of lake mud, metal, and found shoreline debris, reminding us how deeply modern industry now touches even the oldest living lineages.

Together these works create a quiet but powerful meditation on survival, habitat, and the fragile balance between nature and human presence. Visitors may find themselves drawn closer and closer to the surfaces of these pieces, discovering that the materials themselves tell as much of the story as the images they form.

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Where Can I See These Works?

The public is warmly invited to experience these good news stories of animals that had been thought to have been extinct or near extinct and have come back into viability through human intervention.

Exhibition: March 19 - June 1, 2026

Artist Reception: March 28, 4:30-6pm - Admission for this artist reception is free.

Where: Channel Islands Maritime Museum, Thursday - Monday 12-4pm

About The Artist

d truthsayer is a Ventura based artist dealing with the highly topical fact of humans and animals trying to adjust to the exigencies of co-existence. The artist’s process is direct, with deep involvement beginning with research, travel to the habitat site, photographs taken, and “story strings“ made to document the animals’ size and structure. d truthsayer has a BFA from UCLA and has shown extensively in California, with solo exhibitions at Moby’s on Main and multiple curated exhibitions, including 18th Street Arts Center, UCLA New Wight Gallery, Emeritus Gallery, Long Beach Arts, Hive Gallery, and Basswerks among others. Her work is represented in many private collections. More of d truthsayer's works can be found on instagram or her website.

Come Explore!

For more information about this exhibition of the museum, please contact Shoshanna Hnat, CIMM's Director of Programs & Engagement at shnat@cimmvc.org or 805-984-6260.