Chairmen's Gallery, Main Level

In Sea Marks, Christina Lorena Weisner presents sculpture, video, and mixed media works that capture the interconnectedness of the earth’s oceanic environments. Focusing on the ocean currents and weather patterns that tie the planet together, her work points to the irreversible impact humans have on the health of the planet and all of its interlocking systems.

The sculptural work in Sea Marks includes discarded plastic material that washed up on or near the beach in the Outer Banks, where Weisner lives, as well as plastic detritus she collected during her participation in the Arctic Circle Artist Residency. Markings on the plastic Weisner collected contain clues to its location of origin, demonstrating that plastic from around the world regularly makes its way to the Arctic via ocean currents.

The term ‘sea marks’ typically refers to objects and symbols meant to help with ocean navigation, including lighthouses. channel markers, orange flags, buoys, and beacons. Weisner’s work operates as a different type of sea mark. It points to material evidence of environmental catastrophe and warns her viewers about the dire circumstances we’ve created for the planet and, consequently, ourselves.

Christina Lorena Weisner
Born 1982, Richmond, VA
Based in Kill Devil Hills, NC

Christina Lorena Weisner is a sculptor and an Associate Professor in the Department of Fine Arts at the College of the Albemarle. Her work invites the viewer to consider the deep geological time of water, rocks, and the landscape as well as the more fleeting existence of living beings through objects, technology, scientific instruments, and the process of discovery.

Weisner has exhibited nationally and internationally, most recently at the Gregg Museum of Art and Design (Raleigh, NC), Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (Winston Salem, NC), and SteM Zwijgershoek / Mercatormuseum (Sint-Niklaas, Belgium). In 2013-2014, she was awarded a Fulbright Grant for Sculpture and Installation Art to Germany, where she worked on a series of site-specific sculptures based on the Ries Meteorite Impact Crater. Weisner received a BFA in Sculpture and BA in World Studies from Virginia Commonwealth University and a MFA in Sculpture and Ceramics from University of Texas at Austin.

Christina Lorena Weisner: Sea Marks: Explorations from the High Arctic to the Atlantic takes place as part of MoCA Arlington’s SOLOS 2025, part of the Museum’s long-running SOLOS exhibition program. Launched in 1988, SOLOS features solo exhibitions by artists based in the Mid-Atlantic region who are working at the forefront of contemporary art.