Courtney Mattison Sees Soft Power in Small Marine Life
A San Francisco sculptor, Mattison takes inspiration from coral and other marine life responding to sea-level rise
- By Jennifer Wehunt // Art by Courtney Mattison
- Conservation
- Jun 25, 2025
AS A KID IN CALIFORNIA, the San Francisco artist Courtney Mattison saw tide pools as windows into the weirdness of our world: “I’ve always been most fascinated by faceless creatures—this concept of alien life-forms on our own planet,” she says, “all these animals people think are plants or rocks but are actually building the foundation of life in the ocean.” As a high schooler, she found that sculpting anemones, corals and sponges helped her understand them. Later, as an ecologist and scuba diver, she studied marine life up close, but that doesn’t mean her work is textbook-accurate: “I try really hard not to be too literal.” Take “Aqueduct” (above), her intricate installation composed of some 415 individual ceramic pieces, including a hand-carved porcelain air duct. The sculpture was “inspired by sea-level rise and the idea of tropical species, during climate change, invading less tropical parts of our planet and even human environments ... seeking revenge in some way,” she says. “But it’s not coming to eat you. It’s almost subversive and quiet. And that’s how corals are. They mind their own business, but if you look at them under a microscope, they have all kinds of aggressive tendencies.” It’s a dichotomy Mattison relates to. “There’s a gentle hint at something really powerful.” See more of .
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