A project of atonement for environmental damage in the Moshannon Creek Watershed in Clearfield and Centre Counties, Pennsylvania.

Yellow boy is the mining term for the yellow-to-orange sludge coating waterways contaminated by acid mine drainage (AMD). In Clearfield and Centre Counties, Pennsylvania where my ancestors were among the landowners who leased to coal mining companies, flooded abandoned mines spew thousands of gallons of contaminated water into the community every minute, turning stream and the Moshannon Creek into a yellow orange mess. The AMD carries heavy metals with a pH far below what aquatic life can survive; even water that looks pristine can test in the 2's.

For the Yellow Boy project, I created eleven drawings inspired by this landscape, made with natural ochre pigments reclaimed from Pennsylvania AMD sludge. Yellow boy is largely iron oxide, the very material ochre pigments are made from. I will donate 100% of proceeds from their sale to the Moshannon Creek Watershed Association (MCWA), the local organization leading mitigation efforts. After visiting the watershed twice with MCWA guides Eric Skrivseth and George Franchock, I hope eventually to make my own ochre from AMD discharge on my ancestors' land. Below are the first handful of drawings made from coal and AMD ochre pigments sourced from Central Appalachian AMD recovery projects in Eastern PA. Stay tuned for updates on the progress of this project!